Raith Rovers 3-1 Hearts: Kirkcaldy men impress in Ross Matthews' testimonial

The Scottish Premiership’s bottom club took a first half lead on captain Matthews’ big night when Blair Spittal tapped into an empty net following a cutback from the left.

But Raith – currently third bottom of the Scottish Championship with seven points from eight matches – won it in the second half thanks to Lewis Jamieson’s left footed volley, Jack Hamilton’s header from Dylan Easton’s corner and Easton’s slotted finish from an Aidan Connolly pass.

And long serving defender Matthews, 28, who has made over 270 appearances for Raith since first appearing way back in the 2013-14 season, was suitably impressed by his overall experience on the night as well as the way Neill Collins’ side played.

“It meant everything, it was brilliant,” Matthews told Raith TV. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous going into it with all the attention being on me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

"I would obviously like to say ‘thank you’ to everyone that turned up.

"The committee put in a lot of work organising the game. It’s been months organsing it, so a massive thanks to them.

"I walked around the pitch and saw all my friends and family. Everyone close to me was at the game so it was a great feeling.

"It was a really good game of football. It wasn’t your typical testimonial game which can sometimes be lacking atmosphere and be a bit slow.

"But I actually thought there was a real tempo to the game. Both teams had stuff to prove and I thought we played really well, with some really good performances.

"There were guys who hadn’t played a lot and guys coming back from injury.

"I thought to a man everyone was brilliant.

"There is competition for places and if we perform like that we’ll start climbing the table.”

Matthews revealed that he was fine with being substituted after an hour against the Jambos as he was dreading being asked to take a ‘ceremonial penalty’ later in the match!

"I was praying there wasn’t a penalty after my penalty history!” he said. “I have played a lot of minutes this season so the gaffer said to me: ‘Are you happy just playing an hour?’

"I was more than happy with that. I just wanted to start the game, come out, enjoy the atmosphere and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

"It’s no secret I was a Hearts fan growing up so to be able to play Hearts was the game that I wanted, it was brilliant.

"Obviously thanks to them for agreeing to it. They brought a really good team with some top players.

"Getting to play against them for guys like myself and especially the younger ones, we can learn a lot from them.

"My family were definitely supporting Raith. There are a few Hibs fans on my mum’s side so they were definitely supporting Raith!

"All my friends are either Hearts or Hibs but they were all wanting me to win.

"I love being here and I love this club.”

Raith Rovers: McNeil, Dick, Fordyce, Matthews, Smith Mullin, Gibson, Dabo, Brown, Jamieson, Hannah.

Subs: Dabrowski, Freeman, Hanlon, Connolly, Hamilton, Byrne, Easton, Montagu, Stevenson, Nicholson, Thomson.

Hearts: Fulton, Forrester, Penrice, Halkett, Smutek, Tait, Oda, Spittal, Boyce, Dhanda, McKay.

Subs: Baningime, Lyon, Grant, Forrest, McLuckie, Sandilands, Boateng, Stevenson, Gillies, Lister.​