Vaughan enjoying confidence boost

Lewis Vaughan rescued a point for Raith, then praised manager Barry Smith for helping him regain his confidence.

The 21-year-old attacker made it five goals in five games with a last-minute equaliser at Alloa, cancelling out Kevin Cawley’s first-half opener.

Vaughan returned to Stark’s Park in the summer and has hit the ground running under his new boss after being loaned out to Dumbarton by Gary Locke.

“I’m a bit of a confidence player and if I’ve got confidence I play well,” said Vaughan.

“The big difference from last season is the manager fancies me more this time round.”

Despite losing early ground to title rivals Ayr United, who won 5-1 at Albion Rovers, Vaughan was happy with a point from the Indodrill Stadium.

“Alloa’s never going to be an easy place to come,” he said.

“We got out of jail a wee bit with the last-minute goal, but more than deserved a point.”

Raith stuck with the same starting XI that comfortably defeated Cowdenbeath in the Betfred Cup the previous week, but found themselves a goal down after just 16 minutes.

The defence was slow to shut down space at the edge of the box and midfielder Cawley fired a well-struck effort into the bottom corner from 18 yards.

Raith had several chances to equalise before half-time.

Neil Parry made a low save from Vaughan’s close-range flick then Greig Spence struck the post with the follow-up.

Raith hit the woodwork again before half-time as Ross Matthews’ cross was missed by everyone.

Smith made a double change at half-time, with Bobby Barr and trialist Kevin McHattie coming on to give Rovers a more attacking outlook.

The Kirkcaldy side dominated possession but had to wait until the 75th minute for a clear chance as Barr sent Spence through on goal, only for Parry to deny the striker.

Spence reclaimed the ball, rounded the keeper and set up Vaughan six yards out, but the striker was denied by a defender on the line.

Alloa almost sealed victory in the 88th minute when Cawley sprinted through on goal untracked but was denied by Aaron Lennox at his near post.

That save proved crucial as, with 90 minutes on the clock, Lennox launched a high ball down field which Spence flicked through to Vaughan, who fired a low drive past Parry from 16 yards.

Raith boss Smith said: “We never played as well as we can, but we kept going and created chances against a team that will be challenging up the top end.”