The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Task gets tougher for Stark’s Park men after draw
Raith Rovers’ hopes of catching Arbroath suffered another blow following the 1-1 draw in Airdrie.
Euan Murray’s second half header rescued a point for the Kirkcaldy side after a Leighton McIntosh penalty put the Diamonds ahead at the break.
Despite being satisfied with his team’s performance, Raith boss John McGlynn conceded the result did them no favours, with Arbroath’s 4-1 win at Stenhousemuir allowing the runaway League One leaders to move 13 points clear with 15 games remaining.
“For a while now it’s been Arbroath’s league to lose, and it still is,” he said. “It’s their league.
“If you can get a price on Arbroath to win the league you’re going to take it.
“This was a difficult game and that’s why I’m disappointed we didn’t get all three points, but I’m not disappointed with the performance.
“This is a hard game, coming away to Airdrie who are on a run of three straight wins, and it was always going to be difficult.
“In a normal season it would be a good point, but it’s not quite a normal season with regards to what Arbroath have done.”
McGlynn hailed the impact of debutant Tony Dingwall, who came off the bench to set up the equaliser after signing from Ross County the previous day.
“That’s the first time we’ve seen him on the pitch in a Raith Rovers jersey and he looked like he will be a very good addition,” he said.
“He’s got a spark about him, good awareness, and he’s got good ability. He put the ball into a perfect area for Euan to run on to and head in.”
Rovers started on the front foot but the game changed in the eighth minute when Iain Davidson tripped Kyle Wilkie in the box, and McIntosh slammed home the penalty.
The Fifers struggled to get going after that, and it took the half-time interval for them to regroup.
It was the introduction of Dingwall that made the difference, with the winger finding space and crossing for Murray to head home the equaliser with 18 minutes left.
Lewis Vaughan had a gilt-edged chance to put Raith ahead, but was denied by an excellent save from home keeper David Hutton.
Raith keeper Robbie Thomson had been a virtual spectator throughout the second half but he was the hero in injury-time, making two brilliant saves, firstly to turn Daryll Duffy’s goalbound free-kick past the post, then diving full stretch to push away Sean Crighton’s header from the resultant corner.
McGlynn added: “I don’t think it’s a penalty. The referee has given it, but looking back on it, I think it’s very soft.
“In the second half we upped it a bit and I thought we played the better football throughout the game, but we’re grateful to Robbie for the saves at the end.”