RAITH ROVERS 3

Easton (5), Connolly (50 pen), Dick 98)

HAMILTON ACCIES 1

Tiehi (17)

Raith manager Ian Murray repeated some well-worn footballing cliches after another impressive display from his side saw them climb four places to third, just three points behind leaders Ayr United.

Rovers scored three goals for the third home game in a row and they have now won as many matches – seven – as anyone else in the division, but Murray warned: “We’re not getting too excited because there’s a long, long way to go.

“This keeps us bubbling along nicely, but other teams are not high-pressing us at the moment. I don’t see us going on a bad run, but it’s all about fine margins in the Championship.

“Today was a hugely important win for us because it was imperative to follow up last week’s result. A point was the minimum for us, but we’re happy to get all three. The players were under pressure, but they respond well to adversity and they stuck to what they believe in.

“It took us a while to start scoring this season, but we’re doing it now and spreading the goals across the whole team.”

Dylan Easton scored within two minutes when the teams met in August, and the same player produced another very early strike to put Rovers ahead.

Andy Winter ought to have equalised in the 15th minute but somehow powered a free header wide. Hamilton’s French forward Jean-pierre Tiehi, showed Winter how to finish when he made it all-square two minutes later.

Sam Stanton, Scott Brown and Connor O’riordan all went close for the home side before Tiehi wasted a clearcut chance in first-half stoppage time.

That miss came back to haunt the visitors early in the second period when Miko Virtanen fouled Liam Dick and Aidan Connolly slotted home the resulting penalty.

It was one-way traffic after that as Rovers peppered the Accies goal. Hamilton rallied from 4-1 down to snatch a draw against Cove last week, but their fate was sealed when Dick poked home Raith’s third goal.

“I didn’t think there was much in it in the first half, but you need to play for the full 90 minutes in this league,” said Hamilton boss John Rankin.