Raith Rovers still looking for first Betfred point after Caley defeat

The Championship side took an early lead in the first half before Rovers pulled one back, but a quick two goal burst and another in injury time gave Caley a deserved Group D win.

The result left Rovers bottom of their Betfred Cup table without a point after two games.

There were two changes to the Rovers line up from the Betfred tie against Dundee; with Joao Victoria and Kieron Bowie dropping to the bench, with Michael Miller and captain Kyle Benedictus taking their place in the starting XI.

And Rovers, playing in their yellow change kit, found themselves a goal behind after just five minutes.

James Keatings swung in a corner, the defence went to sleep and the unmarked Jordan White headed in. It was as simple as that.

Rovers struggled all afternoon to defend set pieces, particularly from James Keatings. A corner on 17 minutes should have seen the home side double their lead but White couldn’t get his second, putting another header wide when it seemed easier to score.

It was backs to the wall at this point for Rovers but to their credit they fought their way back into the match and almost equalised through two chances on 37 minutes.

A Kieran MacDonald cross was headed by Grant Anderson and though partially blocked went just narrowly over the bar with keeper Mark Ridgers beaten.

The resultant corner was cleared to Regan Hendry who crossed for Benedictus who put a header wide when he should have at least hit the target.

Buoyed by this Rovers started the second half on top and grabbed an equaliser on 48 minutes.

MacDonald made his way down the left wing and his low cross was neatly finished by Lewis Allan for his first Rovers goal.

Just two minutes later and the visitors could have taken the lead – Ross Matthews’ corner was headed narrowly past by Mendy.

However that was as close as Rovers came and five minutes later and a quick double whammy for Caley finished the match.

The first came yet again from a set piece; a Tom Walsh corner was headed in by Coll Donaldson and just 90 seconds later another Walsh cross was tucked away by Aaron Doran to make it 3-1.

On 61 minutes a long range drive from Benedictus was well saved by Ridgers as Rovers tried to get back into the match.

14 minutes later and man of the match Walsh almost scored an incredible solo goal, picking the ball up in midfield and ghosting past four Rovers players before hitting a shot which brought out an excellent save from Ross Munro.

However the fourth goal did eventually come and it was no surprise that Walsh was involved again, his cross headed home in injury time by sub Nikolay Todorov.