Raith Rovers up to third place in Scottish Championship as good things keep coming in threes

The Fifers put three goals past their opposition on Saturday, Hamilton Academical, for the fourth time on the trot, winning 3-1.

That latest victory – secured by a Dylan Easton shot five minutes in, an Aidan Connolly penalty five minutes after half-time and Liam Dick goal ten minutes ahead of the final whistle, with Jean-Pierre Tiehi replying for the visitors on 17 minutes – follows wins by 3-2 against Ayr United in mid-September, 3-0 against Cove Rangers in early October and 3-0 against Partick Thistle last weekend.

It lifts them up to third place in the Scottish Championship table as one of four teams with 22 points from 14 games but with the second-best goal difference and they’re only one win behind league leaders Ayr United.

Hamilton drop into the basement spot, previous incumbents Arbroath having picked up a point at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Next up for Raith is a trip to fourth-placed Dundee, one of the other sides on 22 points, along with second-placed Greenock Morton and fourth-placed Caley, this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

Looking back over his team’s win against Accies, manager Ian Murray told Raith TV: “It was a really hard game, a really intense game, with a lot of aggression from both sides. It was difficult, as we knew it would be.

“We had to make sure we were on our guard mentally and physically we’re in good condition at the moment. We’re looking really sharp.

“We started the game like a train. We scored a really good goal, thanks to a wee bit of a high press. We got the ball and scored from it, and then I felt we lost our concentration for eight to ten minutes, maybe a wee bit longer, and we let Hamilton dictate midfield play and they got their goal from that, and at that point it was a very close game. We had to regroup a wee bit at half-time and we dominated the second half, to be honest.

“We didn’t create lots of chances but we had opportunities to do so, and as the game went on, we managed to make ourselves more comfortable.

“Overall, I’m delighted with the win, I’m delighted with our performance and we’ll just keep bobbling along.

“I felt a real sense of belief at half-time, especially amogst the senior players. They were very focused on getting this result today, so I didn’t have too much of a panic myself. We got a penalty at a wonderful time and we scored it and then we got our third goal towards the end of the game.

“That’s our fourth home game now with three goals, so we can’t complain. If we score three on average at home, then we’ve got a chance.

“It’s not always going to be like that. We had to work hard for our goals.

“We won the game with two set-plays, one a penalty kick and one a free-kick, but we had to earn the right to get them and we did that.

“The players have responded so well in the last few weeks. They’ve got high intensity to their game and high tempo and they’re also showing they can dig in a little bit because at 1-1 at half time, it would have been so easy for us to go into our shells and start knocking the ball long but we still played the same football.”