Robson proud of Raith Rovers’ fighting spirit in 5-0 Scottish Cup defeat v Celtic

Raith Rovers players leaving the pitch after losing 5-0 away to Celtic on Saturday (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group)

Raith Rovers’ hopes of a first win away to William Hill Premiership table-toppers Celtic for over 60 years were never more than slender in the extreme but the Fifers managed to stay within two goals of their hosts until just after half-time on Saturday and put on enough of a show for their 2,500-plus travelling fans to make the 110-mile round trip from Kirkcaldy to Glasgow worth their while.

That 5-0 Scottish Cup fifth-round loss was their biggest against the Old Firm giants since a 7-1 hiding on the road back in 1971, but manager Barry Robson was proud of the fighting spirit his current team showed against his old club.

A Daizen Maeda hat-trick – on six minutes, three minutes into first-half stoppage time and 77 – and further goals from Luke McCowan on 47 and Yang Hyun-Jun on 56 in front of a crowd of 39,207 extended home manager Brendan Rodgers’ side’s current winning streak at home at Celtic Park to 32 games in all competitions.

Raith never looked likely to halt that string of successes but nor did they stop trying and the effort they put in was a source of pride for Robson, at Celtic as a midfielder from 2008 to 2010.

Raith Rovers manager Barry Robson watching his side lose 5-0 at Celtic on Saturday (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group)

“To lose a goal within six minutes rocked us a wee bit – I’d said to them ‘don’t lose an early goal’ – rocked us a wee bit but after that, I thought we settle down and showed good character,” the 46-year-old told Raith TV afterwards.

“We started to grow into the game. We had a few chances, a few transitions.

“When we went in at half-time, I thought we’d performed really well because that’s a really good side.

“They kept fighting, they really did, and a big help with that was the fans. We needed them there today because this Celtic side can beat teams by six, seven or eight-nil. They beat a Scottish premier league team three days ago by 6-0 and that’s a team with probably three or four times the budget we’re on.

“I was proud of them. I would have loved to have given the fans a wee bit more but you could see that when we did go out and we did try and press and we went for it, you could see the speed Celtic have going the other way so we had to try and be measured with that.

“If we hadn’t lost those goals at crucial times, we might have tried to make it a bit closer.

“I thought our structure was good. It’s a hard, hard place for players to come and play, believe me. I’ve been here myself, I’ve played here myself, so I know how hard it is.

“I just think we deserved a wee bit more.

“I think the game-plan went fine because you can’t go chasing Celtic. You can see the speed they’ve got at the top end of the pitch, so you could lose countless amounts of goals.

“We could have kept the ball a wee bit better, I thought, at times today but it’s difficult when you’re chasing the game.

“We came here and performed well, better than some premier league teams have done.”

New loan goalkeeper Josh Rae went straight into the Fifers’ side between the posts, with resident No 1 Kevin Dabrowski forced to settle for looking on from the substitutes’ bench.