Raith Rovers get back to winning ways by hitting Cove Rangers for six

Those back-to-back defeats, both by 3-0 away, against Rangers in the Scottish Cup’s quarter-finals and Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship halted a 14-match unbeaten streak but the Kirkcaldy side are now hoping for another run of positive results after notching up their first win in five matches by hitting Cove for six.

Saturday’s scoreline was not only the Fifers’ biggest ever against the Aberdonians but also their most emphatic since their 6-0 demolition of Peterhead back in July, also at home at Stark’s Park, in the Premier Sports Cup.

Vaughan’s goals were scored on 27 minutes and from the penalty spot on 70 after on-loan Livingston striker Esmael Goncalves had put the hosts ahead with four minutes on the clock.

Raith’s other goals were scored by Ryan Nolan on 54 minutes, Dylan Easton on 57 and Scott McGill on 79, with Jackson Longridge getting one back for Cove on 66.

That result lifts manager Ian Murray’s Rovers side up to sixth place in the table, with 38 points from 28 fixtures, that being seven points shy of the play-off positions.

His opposite number Paul Hartley’s Cove team, on the other hand, are at risk of a rapid return to League 1, sitting eighth in the standings, on 26 points from 29 games, just one more than second-bottom Arbroath and basement side Hamilton Academical, both those relegation rivals having a game in hand on them.

Murray was delighted to see his side pick up three points for the first time since their 2-1 win at Arbroath’s Gayfield Park at the beginning of February, telling Raith TV afterwards: “It was really difficult coming into this game on the back of two 3-0 defeats away from home, very difficult games both of them, against a team that have caused us problems already this season, a team fighting for their lives and a team with a very good manager and staff and players, so we had to be really focused.

“It’s been a really tough week as well, with lots of things going on. We were undecided on our team selection and had to go and make decisions, and I’m very glad that they paid off.

“At one point, we didn’t have Ryan Nolan and we didn’t have Kieran Ngwenya, so we were really in a bit of a pickle.”

Goncalves’ display against Cove has put the Guinea-Bissau international in the frame to play in Sunday’s SPFL Trust Trophy final against Hamilton in Falkirk, according to Murray.

“Isma was on his game today. He ran their defence a bit ragged at times,” he said.

“When Isma’s on his game, he’s a handful. When Isma’s off his game, he can be a frustration, and we know that.”

Murray was also impressed by how his team used the width of Stark’s Park’s pitch to open up gaps in their visitors’ defence, saying: “A pleasing point for me in an attacking sense was the width we created within the game.

“We really stretched them and we switched the ball really, really quickly in the second half, something we’ve been trying to do a bit better.

“We’ve got good footballers but it’s about decision-making.”