Storm Jorge blamed for Raith Rovers' performance in defeat to Dumbarton

Jorge may not have played in Dumbarton yesterday, but he was certainly a factor in the result, according to Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn.

The latest named storm to sweep into the west of Scotland - as christened by the Spanish Met Office - battered the C&G Systems Stadium for the entire match and made very life difficult for both sets of players.

With torrential rain and strong winds affecting both underfoot and overhead conditions, the game produced very little quality and virtually no clear chances until a Stuart Carswell strike in the 93rd minute snatched victory for the home side.

It was a bitter ending to a poor match, leaving McGlynn visibly frustrated with the impact of the weather on his team's performance.

"We can't produce quality in conditions like that," he complained to Raith TV afterwards. "It's just a battle - a lottery.

"It's no different to Stranraer two weeks ago - just two teams battling against the conditions rather than trying to play football.

"It was very difficult, nigh impossible, to create any real quality in the game, for both teams.

"You can't control the ball because of the wind.

"You saw the amount of misplaced passes today - it's not like us. It was no better for Dumbarton - they couldn't pass the ball either.

"There wasn't a good team out there. The conditions won the day, not Dumbarton."

The match survived a morning pitch inspection but both teams struggled to create chances as Storm Jorge rattled in off the Atlantic.

The only real opening of the first half fell to the home side's Stefan McCluskey but he blazed over the bar from a Robert Jones knock-down in the box.

Rovers' best chance fell to Brad Spencer early in the second half as the midfielder raced onto a John Baird pass but dragged his shot wide from 18 yards.

Baird then had the ball in the net for Raith after latching onto Dan Armstrong's defence-splitting pass, but the flag had already gone up for a marginal offside.

The game was heading for stalemate until Dumbarton won it in injury-time when Carswell fired a powerful shot through a crowded penalty box into the net after a corner kick was only partially cleared.

Rovers were fortunate in that title rivals Falkirk also slipped up in a 3-2 defeat at Clyde meaning the Kirkcaldy side remain one point clear at the top of League One ahead of the crunch midweek match against the Bairns at Stark's Park.

"There's not any point in looking back over today's game because there's nothing to learn from it," McGlynn added.

"We dust ourselves down, don't let it bother us too much, and look to the game against Falkirk, where we can only hope the conditions get better."