Rampant Rovers make it five in a row

Rovers put five past Queen’s Park to stretch their lead at the top of League One to six points.

On-loan Hearts forward Dario Zanatta came off the bench to grab his first goal for the Kirkcaldy club and was among five different scorers as Raith made it five league wins on the trot.

The Canadian youth international is no stranger to playing, and scoring, at Hampden having grabbed six while on loan with the Spiders last season, three at the national stadium.

He said: “Ideally I was looking to push into the Hearts team more this season. “But I broke my hand at the start of pre-season which didn’t help and when I realised I wasn’t getting enough minutes for my liking, I spoke to the club about getting on loan.

“I heard there was interest again from Queens during the window but I thought Raith would be the better spot for me this year.

“Hopefully I can carry on and score a few more goals and keep asking questions of Hearts, show that I can score at this level, and maybe they can get me back in January or even next season.”

Raith flew out the traps to go two goals up inside six minutes.

Liam Buchanan opened the scoring after three minutes, controlling Bobby Barr’s cutback before lashing home a volley from eight yards.

Three minutes later, Lewis Vaughan extended his scoring run to 11 consecutive games as he tip-toed through the defence, past goalkeeper William Muir, before slotting into the net.

Vaughan now his 15 for the season already and is just two games away from matching Raith’s all-time record of scoring in 13 consecutive games, set by Joe Cowan in the 1931-32 season.

Queens hit back but were unable to break down a makeshift Raith defence featuring midfielder Scott Robertson at centre-back.

Zanatta was introduced five minutes after the break, replacing Greig Spence, and his impact was immediate as he put the visitors three up with a fine solo effort.

Rovers added a fourth on 79 minutes through Barr and saved the best for last when right-back Jason Thomson scored for the second week running, thumping a first-time effort into the bottom corner from 22 yards.