Matthews is backing Raith to bounce back

Raith rovers: Side are ‘sticking together’ in wake of disappointing loss to title rivals

AYR3 RAITH ROVERS 0

Ross Matthews insists Raith Rovers can still win the League One title despite a 3-0 thumping from nearest rivals Ayr at Somerset Park on Saturday.

Goals from Lawrence Shankland, Jamie Adams and Michael Moffat saw Ayr close the gap on the Kirkcaldy league leaders to one point, with a game in hand.

The defeat, and the manner of it, casts doubts over Rovers’ hopes of holding on to top spot, but Matthews is confident that the team can recover from the set back to clinch promotion.

“Everyone is disappointed in there,” he said. “We knew how big a game it was, and Ayr were the better team, and that’s the thing that really gets to me.

“But the aim is still to win the league and we still feel that is possible.

“Everyone in the changing room still believes we can do it, and we’re all behind the manager and sticking together.”

The outcome may have been different had Shankland, scorer of Ayr’s opening goal, been sent off for an alleged stamp on Matthews early in the game.

“I’m lying on the ground and all I can remember is looking and he’s stamping on my ankle,” Matthews said.

“The ref claims he never seen it, and he hasn’t done anything about it.

“In my opinion it was a sending off. He goes on to score, but after that it’s our own fault. We can’t complain about something that happened 10 minutes into the game when we weren’t good enough for the other 80 minutes.”

Raith were missing suspended duo Iain Davidson and John Herron, while Scott Robertson missed out through injury.

With those absences in mind, manager Barry Smith set up his team in a 4-5-1 formation with the emphasis on being tough to break down.

However, poor defending put paid to that as Ayr opened the scoring on 35 minutes when Shankland powered a header home from a Declan McDaid free-kick.

The home side doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time thanks to more woeful defending from a cross to the back post as Jason Thomson headed the ball straight into his own danger area, which Adams met with a sliding volley that goalkeeper Aaron Lennox spilled over the line.

Raith introduced strikers Jonny Court and Liam Buchanan off the bench in the second half but Ayr put the result beyond doubt as another poorly defended corner allowed Moffat to sweep the ball home from close range.

Raith boss Smith felt the team let down the 471 travelling fans.

“We had a good travelling support and we certainly disappointed them,” he said.

“They got behind us but it was a disappointing performance from us.

“We lost two goals from set-pieces, it’s as simple as that. If you don’t defend them properly then it causes problems.

“The boys kept going but we’ve got to be better than that.

“We’re still sitting top of the league, and there’s eight games to go.

“We’re looking for a response up at Forfar on Tuesday.”

Everyone in the changing room still believes we can do it, and we’re all behind the manager and sticking together. ROSS MATTHEWS

Picture: Steven Brown. Disappointed but undaunted: Ross Matthews of Raith Rovers.