Raith Rovers boss Neill Collins hails 'defensive solidity' against Falkirk after earning first win as boss

The Stark’s Park strugglers earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over previously unbeaten Falkirk at home on Saturday afternoon in the William Hill Championship.

And that three points marked ex-Barnsley boss Collins first win since taking over earlier this month.

“I had maybe three or four months out of work, not long in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like a long time,” Collins admitted.

“Then we went to Ayr and in the first-half I was blown away by how well we played.

“And then, after losing a two-goal lead, I saw my mum and dad after the game and I said, ‘why did I come back into this?.

“It feels like it’s been a bit like that.

“Fifteen minutes into the Dunfermline game we get a man sent-off and then against Hamilton we lose a penalty after something like 30 seconds.

“Listen, that’s football. More than most sports, it’s ruthless and it’s tough.

“But I’m so pleased to get the first win - for everyone.

“I’ve been living here in Kirkcaldy and everyone you speak to you know they just want the team to do well.

“They’ve been saying, ‘can we win this weekend? The boys have been giving everything’.

“So, I’m really pleased to get my first win and I’m pleased for the players because I really think they’ve bought into what we’re doing, from what I’ve seen in training.

“So, I’m glad they got their reward today with the three points.”

Jack Hamilton grabbed the only goal of the match after 11 minutes, when he powered home a penalty won by the impressive Dylan Easton.

And the performance thereafter stopped the Bairns – who came into the match having not lost in 43 league outings – from being able to play their normal fast, attacking football.

Collins praised his players their defensive work over the 90 minutes, saying: “You’ve got to think you’ve got two groups of players, one who are searching a little bit, in terms of that result, but not the performance.

“And then you’ve got one who are finding results no matter what.

“I showed the players five clips from the Airdrie-Falkirk game. Falkirk deserved to beat Airdrie on the day and they created a lot of chances.

“But there were five different opportunities for Airdrie that could easily have been a goal.

“I told them we didn’t give up five opportunities last week, we hardly gave up two, and we ended up losing three goals.

“I said to them if we keep doing that it’ll turn.

“There were aspects of the performance I would like to be better but we restricted a top side to very little - I think one header that they probably should have scored. Outside of that I thought our defensive shape was very, very good.

“John has been in that job for nearly two and a half years, so they looked like a team that’s been together and full of confidence, playing as if they’ve been unbeaten for 43 games.

“We’ve got loads of things to look forward to.”