Raith star says team gave it their all in Premiership play-off

Lewis Vaughan celebrates his goal against Dundee.

The Stark’s Park forward played in behind a front pairing of Gozie Ugwu and Jamie Gullan on Saturday’s match, broadcast live on BBC Scotland, and gave his team a glimmer of hope when he fired them into the lead on 221 minutes.

However despite dominating the remainder of the match they couldn’t find a way through a well marshalled Dundee defence.

“The boys gave absolutely everything,” he said, “I couldn’t have asked for any more from them.

“We tried to make it as hard as possible for Dundee and we made a good start.

“We got that early-ish goal and put a bit of pressure on them.

“Who knows? If we had got that second goal it would have made it even tighter but it wasn’t to be.

“It just shows how far we’ve come this season.

"It’s our first season back in the Championship so we can hold our heads high.

The 25-year-old says that a touch of fatigue may have played its part in proceedings.

“The two games against Dunfermline maybe took a bit out of us, so we were maybe a bit tired in the home game against Dundee, but you can’t use that as an excuse.

“We came here tonight and I thought we were different class.

"We dominated the game just as much as they dominated the first leg.

“We showed that we can mix it up.

"Our usual style of play is passing the ball but we played the ball longer tonight to try and surprise them and scare them.

“I think it worked to a certain degree and if we had got the second goal it may have gone differently but it is what it is.

“The boys gave everything and it’s a sore one to take but the club has come a long way and I’m proud of them.”

Vaughan says he is now looking forward to next season and is confident Raith can make a push for top spot.

“The average age of the squad is quite young so hopefully we can keep hold of the majority of the squad and kick on next year.

“It’s an incredible achievement to have done so well this season.

“We can look forward to next season now and there’s no reason why we can’t challenge for the title.”