Raith Rovers 0-1 Hamilton Academical: Reghan Tumilty haunts former side as Ian Murray's men lose hold of SPFL Trust Trophy

Raith Rovers stranglehold on the Challenge Cup trophy was finally ended by a heroic Hamilton Accies performance on Sunday afternoon in Falkirk.
By Ben Kearney
Published 26th Mar 2023, 18:31 BST
Updated 26th Mar 2023, 19:37 BST
FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Regan Tumilty celebrates making it 1-0 Hamilton during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Regan Tumilty celebrates making it 1-0 Hamilton during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)
FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Regan Tumilty celebrates making it 1-0 Hamilton during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

And it was an ex-Raith man that scored the winning goal for John Rankin’s side on the day, with Reghan Tumilty firing home in the box on the half hour mark to put Accies ahead.

Despite going down to ten men when Dan O’Reilly was sent off for striking Sam Stanton, and despite being camped in their own box for all of the second half, Raith couldn’t break the Lanarkshire outfit down.

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Sam Stanton had a couple of outstanding strikes well saved by Ryan Fulton, who also kept out two Lewis Vaughan efforts that looked destined for the back of the net.

FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Manager Ian Murray during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Manager Ian Murray during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)
FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Manager Ian Murray during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

But in truth, Raith just didn’t handle the occasion as well as their relegation-battling opponents did.

The SPFL Trust Trophy victory for the Lanarkshire club was their first in 30 years, and it ends Raith’s three year consecutive run of Challenge Cup glory.

"We are extremely disappointed,” Raith boss Ian Murray said post-match. “On the game itself, we started really poorly and we looked tentative and nervous. Listen, I understand that because football players are human and an occasion can get to players - and in that first 20 minutes, it looked like that happened in all honesty.

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"Maybe towards the end of that first half, we started to look like ourselves a little bit, but we lost a really bad goal from a corner kick.

FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Team Picture during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Team Picture during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)
FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers Team Picture during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

"But second half, I thought we were really good and excellent in general. We just couldn’t get that goal and their goalkeeper had made a couple of really good saves. We made a couple of poor decisions too, but in football terms, we were really good.

"It just got to that stage where the ball wasn’t dropping for us and their goalkeeper was saving everything - you do think then that it just isn’t going to be your day and that it was Hamilton Accies.”

Teams

Raith Rovers: MacDonald, Dick, Nolan, Millen, Spencer, Vaughan, Lang, Stanton, Brown, Easton, Goncalves.

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FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers players are dejected during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers players are dejected during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)
FALKIRK, SCOTLAND - MARCH 26: Raith Rovers players are dejected during the SPFL Trust Trophy final between Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical at the Falkirk Stadium, on March 26, 2023, in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Subs: McNeil, Thomson, Connolly, McBride, Ngwenya, Ross, Masson.

Hamilton Accies: Fulton, Shiels, O’Reilly, Martin, Ashley-Seal, L.Smith, Redfern, McGowan, Mimnaugh, Tumilty (‘29), De Bolle.

Subs: J.Smith, Easton, Zanatta, Sparrow, Stephenson, Tiehi, Winter, Owens, McGinn.

Related topics:Hamilton AcademicalIan MurrayReghan TumiltyFalkirk

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