St Andrews United boss Robbie Raeside 'deeply sympathises' with plight of extinct Rosyth FC - but their sad demise 'will aid Saints' promotion bid'

Rosyth – founded in 1992 and recently managed by ex-Dunfermline Athletic and Hibernian star Stevie Crawford – closed their doors with immediate effect last week as they ‘weren’t financially sustainable’ after failing to agree new terms for a proposed move to play at Pitreavie in a new ground development.

Earlier this term, Crawford’s sixth-placed team beat St Andrews 4-1 in the league, but Rosyth lost to Camelon Juniors, Newtongrange Star and Dunipace, the only three teams ahead of Robbie Raeside’s Saints in the table.

Saints boss Raeside told the Herald and Citizen: “It’s terrible what’s happened to Rosyth and I’ve spoken to Stevie Crawford about it. I really feel terrible for the players there.

"Stevie is absolutely gutted and it’s a horrible situation for everybody. I have great sympathy for Rosyth. What’s happened is through no fault of anybody there.

"I couldn’t believe it because we were meant to be playing Rosyth this Saturday so I’m also really disappointed we don’t have a game.

"Last year when all results against Syngenta were declared null and void it actually cost us three points. But this year we lost to Rosyth and the top three all beat them.”

East of Scotland League board members are expected to ratify the ‘null and voiding’ of all Rosyth’s results this season at a meeting next Thursday, February 22.

"If that is ratified then the league table will be looking a lot healthier,” Raeside said. “Not that it looks particularly unhealthy, but the players would have a great chance.

"There’s a lot of hard work to go but the focus has very much got to be on promotion which is remarkable.

"We’ve had a difficult couple of months but I do feel that my players have the bit between their teeth with their last two performances.

"If the league table looks a bit better in a couple of weeks then that’s great.”

Raeside was speaking in the wake of United losing 1-0 after extra time at Dunipace in last Saturday’s East of Scotland Qualifying Cup fifth round tie. Saints’ Lewis Lorimer was red carded on 110 minutes after receiving a second booking.

“As I said to the players, there’s a way that’s acceptable to lose a football match and that was definitely it on Saturday,” he added. "The last time we were down there we were very poor, we were like the Dog and Duck.

"But on Saturday we went toe to toe against a team who are probably the favourites to win our league. If that was a league game we’d be going away with a point and it wasn’t as if we held on.

"Every single player was a seven or an eight out of 10. I thought Ryan McManus, Cammy Lumsden, Ryan Roche and Scott Reekie were outstanding.

"We hit the woodwork two or three times and had as good chances, if not better, than them. We just couldn’t get it in and there was nothing in the game.

"It was one of the softest sendings off I’ve ever seen that’s probably cost us, going down to 10 men so late in the game, and they managed to take advantage of that.

"For the first booking right in front of the dugout, Lewis has actually made the tackle and the boy’s fallen over him. You could tell by the crowd reaction that nobody thought it was a yellow.

"And then for the second yellow the boy’s been clever, he’s cut across Lewis and my player has put his arms out, pulled back and the guy’s just gone down when he’s overrun the ball.

"The referee has been sucked in. As I said to him after the game, he didn’t have to give a yellow card for every foul. I just felt he was too eager to dish out the cards because it wasn’t a dirty game.

"The referee just said he thought Lewis had clipped their player’s feet.

"But if he has clipped his feet, he’s not meant it. It’s been minimal contact and the guy’s gone down.

"It was two very soft yellow cards. It’s the way the game’s going, we’re getting close to non contact football.

"I just felt he was too eager to dish out the cards because it wasn’t a dirty game.

"I was disappointed for Lewis and the rest of the players but I was really pleased with the performance. They should take a lot of confidence from that.

"We didn’t just battle and defend. We actually took the ball at the back and played a bit of football at times.

"Young Lewis Grant, 19 years old, started the game. And we’re bringing on Lucas McKimmie, 18 I think, and Aidan Farningham, 18.

"We were bringing on young lads from the under-20s because we had to.

"We were missing two strikers cup-tied and one injured.

"So it was good experience for the young guys that came in. It’s not as if you’re bringing them on when we were winning comfortably.

"It was 0-0 in a cup tie, they all came on and acquitted themselves well.

"It bodes well for the run in. As much as we don’t want to go out of the cups, we’ve got a lot of league fixtures to focus on between now and the end of the season.”

With no match this Saturday, Raeside outlined his plans for the squad this weekend.

He said: “The boys will be delighted to know I’ve managed to secure training facilities on the astroturf at the Regional Performance Centre in Dundee.

“So they’ve got a good training facility this Saturday.”