The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Raithoverthe Moontoend goaldrought
KEVIN MOON smashed Raith Rovers’ goal drought to send them on their way to a famous William Hill Scottish Cup win over Hibs.
On the back of a poor run of league form — and no goals in their last five — few gave Rovers hope of causing an upset at Easter Road but, after Moon broke their goal curse with an early opener, Rovers produced a heroic performance to complete a 3-2 win over Terry Butcher’s Premiership side.
“Our league form has taken a bit of a dip recently so it was important we took our minds off that and concentrated on this game,” said the midfielder.
“Not many people gave us a chance but the only time we’ve been beaten in a cup tie this season is on penalties against Hearts, so we were confident.
“The manager did a lot of work during the week on keeping us organised and it showed. We rode our luck at times but you need to do that when you come to places like this.
“We’ve not been scoring recently but we’ve been creating chances, we’ve just not been getting the breaks.
“It didn’t matter who got the first goal, but you could see it gave the boys a lift and that’s what we’ve been missing in recent weeks. Hopefully we can kick on and take this into our league form,” he added.
Moon will now face his former club in the quarter-finals after Raith were drawn at home to St Johnstone.
“I played in three semis at St Johnstone but I won’t go much into that,” he said.
“I don’t want to disrespect any teams still in it, but Celtic going out has given a great chance for another club to make a statement and go on and win it.”
Rovers took an 1800-strong support to Easter Road, which helped push the Easter Road crowd over the 10,500 mark.
The visitors made a nervy start and Ross Laidlaw was called to make a super save in the second minute, showing quick reactions to deny James Collins after the Hibs striker’s touch redirected Liam Craig’s wayward effort on target.
Rovers’ nerves quickly settled and they took a shock lead in the sixth minute with their first real attack of the match.
Joe Cardle brilliantly jinked past full-back Jordan Forster on the left touchline before drilling a low cut-back that deflected into Moon’s path, and the midfielder fired low into the bottom corner.
Hibs responded in the 14th minute, with Sam Stanton firing home a fine equaliser with a sweetly struck left-foot shot from 22 yards that went in off the post.
Ross Callachan was just inches away from restoring Raith’s lead in the 35th minute as the fingertips of Ben Williams put his 25-yard thunderbolt on to the post.
Rovers lost defender Reece Donaldson to a facial injury after a clash of heads, which gave ex-Hibs full-back Fraser Mullen a chance to impress against his former club.
And it was from Mullen’s free-kick into the box that Rovers scored a controversial second goal as Dougie Hill prodded the ball over the line from six yards out.
The goal looked to have been chalked off as the offside flag had been raised but referee Steven McLean overruled his assistant and, after confusion, Rovers fans were able to celebrate re-taking the lead.
Their joy did not last long however as 60 seconds later Hibs hit back — with Michael Nelson towering above the Raith defence to bullet home Craig’s corner.
Rovers started the second half positively and Moon was denied a second by the legs of Williams after he burst into the box.
Rovers continued to attack and were rewardedwithathirdgoalasGrantAnderson leapt superbly to bravely head home Cardle’s whipped cross at the near post.
Hibs were struggling to break Rovers down but Laidlaw was called into action in the 78th minute to parry Craig’s powerful 25-yard free-kick.
Two minutes later Nelson sent a looping header on to the Rovers crossbar, whileattheotherendtheHibsdefenderhadto rush back to clear off the line after Raith substitute Gordon Smith broke clear and knocked the ball past the Williams.
Hibs piled on the pressure in the closing stages but Rovers defended resolutely to spark great scenes of celebration on the final whistle, and words of praise from their ecstatic manager.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” Grant Murray said. “The players have to take a huge amount of credit.
“We knew it was going to be difficult against a very good Hibs side but to come to Easter Road and score three goals is magnificent. The effort the players put in was truly what was needed to get through.”
Murray also had praise for on-loan Hibs left-back Callum Booth. who produced a splendid display against his parent club.
“A lot of credit has to go to Callum considering what he’s had to put out his head during the week,” Murray said. “He was outstanding, but every player was outstanding and that’s got us through.” Murray ranked the result as a career high. “It’s right up there,” he said. “I was fortunate enough in my first season at Raith that we got a run to the semi-final and it took performances like that to get us there.
“We knockedAberdeen out and we had a great win at Dundee. This ranks right alongside that. I’ve told the players to enjoy the moment but on Monday our focus will be back to the league campaign.”