SINKING FEELING
Hibs press the panic button as Raith find ray of light
IT IS starting to get serious for Hibernian. The task of securing promotion to the Premiership has turned into an almighty struggle. Not so long ago, things seemed to be going swimmingly.
Four league defeats in a row have placed Alan Stubbs’ men into one hell of a fight as they aim to secure passage to the top tier via the play-offs.
Make no mistake — this was a superb victory for hard-working Raith Rovers. They deserved the win and continue to sit comfortably in fourth spot. At this rate, they’ll be meeting Hibs in a crunch double-header in the not too distant future.
Anthony Stokes gave the visitors the lead in the first half as they returned to league action after last week’s League Cup Final defeat and Wednesday night’s win in the Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
But the game turned on its head either side of the break thanks to goals from Lewis Toshney and Mark Stewart for Raith.
How Hibs did not snatch at least a point was mindboggling after striker Jason Cummings hit the bar from two yards in the second half. It summed up their day.
The Leith side are six points behind second-placed Falkirk — but they have two games in hand — and the battle between these two is going to be fascinating in the coming weeks.
Stubbs was left to rue his side’s defensive mistakes — as well as Cummings’ miss — and warned some of his players they run the risk of losing their place in the team.
‘We can’t defend the way we’ve defended,’ said Stubbs. ‘The first goal was a ball straight down the middle and then, for the second goal, we were warned not to let players get runs on us. Jason is just going through one of those phases. He probably thought he scored before he hit the ball. We’ll keep working away with him now.
‘We have to keep taking our chances, otherwise players will put themselves under pressure for a starting place because there are others who are wanting to be in a starting position.
‘There were too many players affected by the pitch today.’
Cummings, in desperate need of a goal after failing to find the net in his previous five games, tried his luck on the half-volley from 25 yards but his looping shot was held by Raith goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert.
However, Hibs did find the breakthrough thanks to Stokes after 25 minutes.
John McGinn’s corner from the right was cleared but only to the Irishman on the edge of the box. He steadied himself before firing a low, right-foot shot into the far corner.
It was a goal Hibs needed to steady any early nerves. But they still had to be on their toes. Toshney crossed from the right to Raith striker Stewart, who put visiting goalkeeper Mark Oxley under pressure. He gathered the ball despite spilling at the first attempt.
Credit to Ray McKinnon’s men, who regrouped and equalised seven minutes before the break.
Centre-back Craig Barr floated the ball forward to Toshney. The midfielder controlled in the box and punished the Hibs defence by firing into the bottom left-hand corner.
Raith’s pressure early in the second half paid off. Hibs defender Liam Fontaine — whose mistake gifted Ross County the winning goal in last week’s League Cup Final – almost had another moment to forget when he diverted on-loan Rangers striker Ryan Hardie’s cross just wide of his own goal.
From Louis Longridge’s corner, Raith took the lead on 53 minutes. Barr flicked the ball into the box with his head to Stewart, who nodded home.
Then came that extraordinary miss from Cummings. It was to be his last action as he was substituted and — clearly annoyed — kicked a bottle in the technical area.
With less than five minutes to go, Hibs substitute Chris Dagnall’s header crashed off the bar.
McKinnon was thrilled with the desire shown by his players, and said: ‘I think we deserved to win. Hibs threw everything at us in the last 15 minutes but credit to my boys — they stood up to it. I’m delighted.
‘It was important for us to win tonight in case anything arises later in the season.’