Half-time rollicking sparks second-half surge from Rovers
Raith Rovers manager John Mcglynn praised his players for the manner in which they recovered from the loss of an early goal to defeat basement side Alloa.
Although the result pushed the Kirkcaldy men into second place in the table – leapfrogging Fife neighbours Dunfermline in the process – Mcglynn was in no mood to allow anyone to get carried away, especially with a derby fixture against the Pars coming along on Friday night.
“I’m very pleased,” said Mcglynn. “The players showed a lot of determination and character to come back from 1-0 down.
“We lifted the tempo in the second half, passed the ball well and our pressure eventually told.
“It’s good to be back in second place, but we’ve been here before and need to keep our feet on the ground with some important games coming up.”
With consistency having been a major problem for Raith since they regained their second-tier status this season, a game against bottom dogs Alloa looked an ideal opportunity for the Kirkcaldy side to regain winning momentum.
And they certainly appeared hungry to do so in the early stages of the contest with the Alloa back line being forced into some stout defending as they repelled a series of promising attacks.
After nine goal-less minutes, Alloa defender Jon Robertson took one for the team in heroic fashion, throwing his body in front of a powerfully-struck goalbound shot from Raith midfielder Ross Matthews, who had looked certain to score when the ball had fallen to him three yards out.
The Wasps, however, despite their seemingly hopeless league position, have proved to be an excellent footballing side of late, as evidenced by their luckless defeat at Dunfermline last Saturday and their impressive midweek draw at Inverness.
In the wake of Robertons’s goalsaving block, they began to weave some pretty pictures across the Stark’s Park surface with some wellconstructed passing movements.
So much so, they took the lead just five minutes later.
Architect of the opener was midfielder Kevin Cawley, who delivered a probing cross into the goalmouth, where towering frontman Innes Cameron rose above the static Raith defender to net a well-placed header.
The difficult position in which Rovers found themselves at that stage could easily have been exacerbated a few minutes before the break when Jamie Macdonald spilled a 30-yard free-kick from Scott Taggart and, although the loose ball fell safely, John Mcglynn’s rapidly darkening mood was clearly reflected within his animated touchline gesticulations.
Mcglynn’s half-time rollickings are a thing of legend at Stark’s Park and the home players clearly felt the sharp edge of his tongue at half-time judging by the manner in which they began the second half.
The equaliser arrived midway through the second half, Alloa keeper Neil Parry living up his name by parrying a powerful header from Kyle Benedictus, only for the ball to fall kindly to Iain Davidson to drive the ball into the unguarded net.
Regan Hendry fired home from the edge of the box to give Raith the lead seven minutes from the end and substitute Jamie Gullan made sure of victory with a well-struck third shortly afterwards.
A bad day at the office for Alloa was confirmed when Alan Trouten saw his stoppage-time penalty saved by Macdonald.
“The better team won on the day,” reflected disappointed Alloa boss Peter Grant. “I’ve no argument there. The players gave everything, but, at the end of the day, it just wasn’t enough.”