Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray sees red over players being sent off at double

An Alex King header put the hosts ahead two minutes into that game at Cappielow Park and that’s the way the scoreline stayed come the final whistle.

That result saw Morton manager Dougie Imrie’s sixth-placed side stretch the gap between them and the seventh-placed Fifers to nine points, lifting them to within two points of a Scottish Championship play-off place.

The Kirkcaldy crew are now on 42 points from 34 fixtures, with two left to go – away to fifth-placed Ayr United this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, and at home at Stark’s Park to fourth-placed Partick Thistle on Friday, May 5, with kick-off at 7.45pm.

To add insult to the injury of being hit by their second 1-0 defeat of this league season at Morton, the first having been back in October, visiting manager Ian Murray’s team lost both defender Tom Lang and forward Lewis Vaughan to second yellow cards in the space of a couple of minutes as the game neared its end, the former going off on 85 minutes after being cautioned on 72 and the latter on 87 after first seeing yellow on 18.

Murray wasn’t happy with those decisions by referee Dan McFarlane, telling Raith TV afterwards: “I was disappointed for the players and disappointed for the team as well becuase we were already low on numbers.

“I felt both decisions were very, very harsh on us.

“It could maybe look as if we’d lost discipline and we certainly didn’t do that because we kept control and kept our composure.

“That first one for Lewis in the first half was never a yellow card. Thomas, for his first one, the ball hit his chest so it wasn’t a yellow card.

“For the second one, he’d had a couple of nips after that and was maybe walking a tightrope to a certain extent, but the one he got booked for was nothing.

“It was the same as Lewis’s one – yes, he’s made an action to punch the ball into the ground but he’s not aimed it at anybody, he’s not kicked the ball away. You’ve got to use a little bit of common sense.

“It just wasn’t needed. It wasn’t merited.”

Looking back over the match, Murray said: “As ever here, it was a very, very difficult game.

“I felt that for 60, 65 or maybe 70 of the 90 minutes, we were very good after letting ourselves down at the start.

“We struggled to get to grips with Morton’s physicality and their midfield runners, but after that, the players gave it absolutely everything.

“We were bitterly disappointed with the scoreline and extremely proud of our performance. We should have been leaving with at least a point. We deserved that.

“Full credit to my players for the way they went about their business. I’ve always said I’ll be the first to criticise if I think we’ve not done everything we could to win a game of football. Today I felt we did.”

Looking ahead to Raith’s run-in, both matches potentially benefiting Morton’s play-off push if Raith can pick up points, the 42-year-old added: “We’ll go out and try to win but we’ll be doing it for ourselves, never mind anybody else.”