MATCH STATS ALLOA ATHLETIC 2

RAITH ROVERS 5

STAR MAN: KYLE BENEDICTUS. The former Alloa defender was immense as he controlled the visitors’ defence.

Buchanan (75, pen 89)

Duku (17), Armstrong (37), Lokotsch (82), Ugwu (88), Ross (90)

Raith Rovers overwhelmed the home side with a powerful display, scoring five times to give them the three points from a match played in terrible weather with driving rain and high winds making control of the ball difficult.

The Kirkcaldy team’s assistant boss Paul Smith said: “In the terrible conditions Alloa played good football, but we kept ourselves in the game.

“We are delighted with the three points that take us into third place in the table, but we need to be doing what we can to maintain the pressure on the sides around us.”

In atrocious conditions, highflying Rovers took a deserved lead in the seventeenth minute when Manny Duku out-jumped the home defence and headed home from close range, giving Alloa keeper Parry no chance.

Rovers continued to pile the pressure on the home defence, and sadly for the home defence the poor weather conditions contributed to the visitors’ second goal.

The ball was crossed into the box from the right by Dan Armstrong, and as the wind caught the ball, it was somehow pushed into the net past Parry in the home goal.

The Wasps pulled back a deserved goal in the 75th minute when Liam Buchanan connected with a cross from the right and stabbed the ball past Robbie Thomson in the visitor’s goal.

Raith responded with a goal from substitute Lars Lokotsch in the 82nd minute to make it three, but the home side fought gallantly on, and Buchanan got his second goal from the penalty spot in the 88th minute.

But the visitors were far from finished.

They extended their lead in the 89th minute when substitute Gozie Ugwu, only yards from the goal, knocked home another fine cross from Armstrong.

Then to round things off with a flourish Ethan Ross nipped in, again from close range, in the second minute of added-on time to make it five.

Alloa boss Peter Grant was understandably disappointed in the result saying: “We played well, but goals are what win and lose games.

“Raith deserved their victory, but we need to defend better.

“We lost some poor goals, but we need to keep fighting, and we have some challenging games ahead of us, and we will need to defend better.