Raith Rovers finish with 10 men as unbeaten run ends in Peterhead

A goal in each half from Peterhead provided one of the upsets of the day against the league leaders.Rovers failed to get going in the first half and fell behind through a blunder by keeper David McGurn and despite rallying at the start of the second half, failed to take their chances and were killed off by a superb goal on the break.

It was top of the table Raith coming into this game on the back of three draws who travelled to struggling Peterhead, without a win in any of their previous six matches.

Balmoor Stadium was shrouded in mist with rain falling steadily as the home side kicked off and had the best of the possession in the opening minutes with a slippy surface making for testing conditions.

A couple of early Peterhead corner kicks kept the visitors on the back foot but all they had to show for their dominance was a long range effort from Gary Fraser on the quarter hour.

The Blue Toon continued to have most of the ball but failed to create a threat illustrating the problem they have been having in front of goal this season which saw captain Rory McAllister dropped to the bench.

Derek Lyle hit the side netting with a shot on the turn in the 26th minute from a Scott Brown knock down but we eventually had a goal ten minutes before half time.

A slip up in the Rovers rearguard allowed Jack Leitch a sight of goal and he spun and shot into the roof of the net for a long awaited but deserved opener.

Raith made two half time substitutions, John Baird and Grant Anderson coming on for Jamie Gullan and Daniel Armstrong and the full timers certainly came out with a lot more desire in their play than had been shown in the first period.

Rory McAllister was unleashed from the bench ten minutes in for the home side followed soon after by David Ferguson who replaced Jamie Stevenson and on the hour McAllister unleashed a thunderbolt from fully 25 yards that flew very close but just over the crossbar.

Rovers thought they were about to score on 67 minutes when Anderson had the goal at his mercy 12 yards out but Scott Hooper put his body on the line to bravely block what was a goalbound shot.

Two minutes later sub Jack Smith sent a shot crashing off the face of the bar soon after coming on as the visitors turned the screw.

But it was Peterhead who wrapped up the points in the 74th minute with a superb goal on the break, Gary Fraser receiving a diagonal pass from Scott Brown before cutting in to fire low into the corner from the edge of the penalty area, a superb strike.

Rovers day went from bad to worse when Iain Davidson was shown a straight red ten minutes from the end for dissent.