Vaughan's delight at his Raith Rovers return

The forward had only made one appearance this season, a sub appearance also against Hearts in the Betfred Cup in October, but then had to go for a small operation. A further setback as he battled back from a knee injury.

Whilst admitting the result was far from perfect, the 25-year-old says playing for an hour was a personal victory in his first start for Raith since September 2019.

“It's been a long time coming,” he says, “it's been a long hard road.

“I was just delighted to get back on the pitch on a personal level.

“It's been absolute hell for the past year and half to two years. I wouldn't wish for anybody to go through it but I'm through it now, I'm back playing and hopefully I can kick on now and stay injury free.”

Vaughan says he was relieved to come through his 60 minute showing with no problems to report.

"I've been training for a couple of weeks now and I felt good, I felt sharp and felt fit.

“If there's one positive from tonight it's that I came through the game and I'm feeling absolutely fine.

“I got 60 minutes under my belt and fitness wise I actually felt alright. My legs felt strong and I felt good.

“I ticked every box with the club’s physio and sports scientist so I was confident that I was going to be fine.

“It's massive for me to have got through it and I feel fine and my knee feels strong.”

Adding a further complication in his quest to return was testing positive for Covid-19 during the outbreak at the club, but comparing to “a heavy flu”, Vaughan says when put into context it was bearable.

"I had to isolate for 10 days but it's behind me now and it's nothing to what I've been through before,” he says.

"It wasn't a major thing for me.”

Vaughan declares himself fit for Saturday’s visit from Dundee and says Raith will look to stop making it three home defeats in a row.

"We've been really good here, our home form has been good bar the last two games,” he says.

“Hopefully we can nip that in the bud and get back to winning ways on Saturday.”