Raith Rovers 0-1 Livingston: Co-boss John Potter gutted for goalkeeper after late mistake proves costly

Ben Kearney
By Ben Kearney

Sports Reporter

Published 31st Aug 2024, 21:59 BST
KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith Interim Manager John Potter during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith Interim Manager John Potter during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)
KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith Interim Manager John Potter during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)
Raith Rovers co-manager John Potter protected his goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski after the Poles’ error handed Livingston a last-gap win at Stark’s Park on Saturday in the Scottish Championship.

Jamie Brandon’s effort squirmed into the back of the net in injury-time to hand the three points to David Martindale’s side, with managerless Raith now sitting second bottom in the table – having only won once in four outings.

“It was a really tough one to take, to be honest,” interim boss Potter told Raith TV. “I thought we were good for long spells and our press and energy levels were good. We created more today than we had previously in the last few games.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"But to lose it as we did was hard to take. “The goal was long throw. I’ve watched it back and we did well to clear it initially. It was then a clean strike but Kev (Dabrowski) has made a mistake. It happens.

KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith's Euan Murray goes off with an injury during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith's Euan Murray goes off with an injury during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)
KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 31: Raith's Euan Murray goes off with an injury during a William Hill Championship match between Raith Rovers and Livingston at Starks Park, on August 31, 2024, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Byars / SNS Group)

"He doesn’t make many of them. He has admitted his mistake in there (the changing room) but he has saved us enough times and won us enough points previously. It was just disappointing that it happened at a time when we couldn’t really go again.

"But we come back fighting and ready to go next week. We’ll need to brush up on things and this is a tough league but I was happy with lots of the performance.

"We need to find ruthlessness in front of goal. It was more like us today but you need a little bit of quality, especially going forward. You need that bit of magic and creativity."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Raith were forced into a system change with a number of starts still out of action, and it got even worse for the Kirkcaldy club when centre-back Euan Murray went off injured during the defeat.

On that, Potter added: “We needed to get a couple of strikers up the pitch. We were limited with options and we were putting people in places we thought that could perform in.

“Euan Murray coming off makes it difficult as we had nothing else natural there. The shape was working well and we still managed to create chances.

“Euan has had a little issue with his groin for a couple of weeks now. He didn’t to much during the week and it was a bit of a gamble. Hopefully it is nothing too bad.”

Related topics:LivingstonStark's Park

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.