A season to savour for Brechin...but one to forget for poor Rovers

First things first. Huge congratulations to Brechin City for causing one of this season’s biggest upsets on Saturday. Darren Dods’ part-time side were massive underdogs going into the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park.

Brechin were down to the bare bones because of injuries to key players but they overcame all the odds to beat the full-time Kirkcaldy outfit on penalties.

The Angus side now face Alloa in the final with the tantalising carrot of playing Championship football hanging before them.

While it remains to be seen if Brechin can win promotion, Raith will definitely be in League 1 when the 2017-18 campaign kicks off.

The full repercussions of relegation have yet to be revealed with the players set for crisis talks with club officials today. The financial implications of playing in League 1 will be huge and Rovers may have to go part-time.

Even if they do stay full-time, there are bound to be cuts at the club.

All in all, what has happened this season has been nothing short of a disaster for Raith.

Last summer started badly with manager Ray McKinnon lured to his home town club Dundee United but the nucleus of the squad that had taken Raith into the promotion play-offs remained.

There were a whole host of names in the frame to replace McKinnon in the Stark’s Park hot-seat but the club decided to opt for former Hearts and Kilmarnock boss Gary Locke.

It was a controversial appointment that divided fan opinion but the new manager had a decent start to his reign, winning five out his first seven matches.

By October 29 when Raith beat Queen of the South at home, they were sitting third top of the Championship table, just behind Dundee United and league leaders Hibs.

Incredibly, after that, Raith went into freefall, going 14 games without a win. The board deciding to act by sacking Locke and his assistant Darren Jackson after a home defeat to Morton at the start of February.

Shortly after, they turned to former Hibs and Inverness boss John Hughes to hopefully steady the ship and save their season.

However, while results improved slightly, Raith’s position became increasingly precarious hovering just above the relegation play-off spot.

Rovers could still have saved themselves but they were overhauled by a resurgent St Mirren. Fellow strugglers Dumbarton also secured their safety with the help of goals from a certain Lewis Vaughan – on loan from Raith.

As bizarre decisions go, farming the frontman out to the Sons is right up there.

Hindsight is a wonderful gift but even a blind man could see at the time that loaning one of your most promising young strikers to Championship rivals who were sitting just four points behind Rovers in the table at the time was utter madness.

Raith also endured the farcical situation of being left without a recognised keeper for a game against Ayr and had to press Ryan Stevenson into action between the posts. Shortly after, he announced his retirement and left the club.

Meanwhile, Hughes’ strategy of regularly questioning his players’ commitment, desire and basic footballing ability in public in a bid to spark a response from them was a risky one to say the least.

His departure was confirmed shortly after the final whistle on Saturday, with Raith’s relegation a big blot on his CV.

That will be of little consequence to Raith fans who, like the players and club staff, now anxiously wait to see exactly what the future holds.

Top: Declan McManus holds his head in his hands as relegation is confirmed; above: striker Lewis Vaughan left to join rivals Dumbarton on loan, while Ryan Stevenson had to play in goal – and promptly retired.