My Team & I - Raith Rovers

Click here or read below for my article on why I support Raith Rovers and take you over the trials and tribulations of doing so. It was published on The Footy Blog.

Rovers

Why Raith?

I have my dad to “thank” for being a Raith fan. He was brought up in a village half way between Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, but he chose to support the less successful team (*sigh*). I actually grew up in Jersey, but I was made aware of Raith Rovers when bought the away strip shortly after the club beat Celtic in the 1994 League Cup Final. Through the years my dad and I would often take in a pre season friendly on our summer holidays and when I moved to Edinburgh University in 2007 I was finally able to watch Raith every week. I'm not sure if it was the 2-1 defeat to Berwick Rangers in front of 570 fans or attending a Scottish Cup Third Round fixture against Threave Rovers and being so cold that my whole body became numb, but I was hooked very quickly.

Favourite Player?

The dependable, Laurie Ellis

Rovers haven't possessed a real quality player since I've watched them, but I would go for left sided defender, Laurie Ellis. He is now in his third spell at Starks Park and although he isn't the best defender the club has ever had, he reads the game better than most. Laurie comes across as someone who loves playing for the club and goes out of his way to interact with the fans. Also, featuring at left back, his light hearted berating of the nearby linesman, or “lino”, is generally quite amusing.

Favourite Game?

A 2-2 draw with local rivals Dunfermline last year at East End Park was probably the best game I have ever watched. It was a top of the table clash with Raith sitting in first place on 26 points and the Pars just one point behind. The tension rose to another level with kickoff being delayed by ten minutes due to an unexpectedly big crowd.

The Pars absolutely battered Raith in the first half and the 2-0 half time scoreline did not accurately convey the utter dominance they had. To add insult to injury, it also meant that as things stood, Dunfermline would go top of the league. However, the second half was a different story.

Just six minutes into the second period Dunfermline's Andy Kirk sliced a shot wide of an open goal. If Kirk's shot had found the back of the net, most agree that would have been no way back for Raith. However, Rovers took confidence from the miss and started to gain a foothold in the match, but were struggling to find a way through the Pars defence. This changed on the 73^rd minute when Dunfermline's Neil McGregor was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders by referee Eddie Smith. The atmosphere was now becoming more volatile.

Three minutes after McGregor's dismissal, Kirk was taken onto the sidelines to receive treatment for an injury and while this was happening, manager Jim McIntyre made two substitutions, one replacing Kirk himself. However, after a rub of the magic sponge Kirk trotted back onto the pitch, apparently oblivious to the fact he had been subbed. Play raged on with Dunfermline back to eleven men but soon a Raith fan nearby chirped “they've got eleven men again”. His neighbour screamed “whit?!” followed by a loud “BOOOOO!”. As word spread, the chants of “cheats, cheats, cheats” boomed out of the travelling support. Referee Smith brought his finger out and started counting the number of Dunfermline players. After consulting his nearby linesman he swiftly booked Kirk and ordered him off the pitch.

The match restarted again and seven minutes from time Raith clawed a goal back. Dunfermline 'keeper Chris Smith inexplicably dropped a ball at the feet of Iain Williamson and the Raith winger duly passed it into the back of the net. Just minutes later Williamson unbelievably hit the bar from just yards out, but the away support continued to urge their side on. Then, two minutes into injury time Willie Dyer clipped a speculative cross into the box which Allan Walker nodded on and the ball looped – almost in slow motion - into the top corner of the goal. The noise was incredible and the hugs were intense. Walker's equalising goal had kept Raith top of the league and the fans were sure to let the quickly escaping home support know this.

Allan Walker celebrates after his equalising goal against the Pars

Favourite Strip?

The 125^th anniversary “Blackburn style” strip was the most aesthetically pleasing one, made all the better by the fact Raith won the Second Division wearing it.

Iain Davidson shows off the 125th anniversary strip with the Second Division trophy

Worst Thing About Being A Raith Fan?

When Raith beat Celtic in the 1994 League Cup Final a commentator apparently claimed that the fans would be “dancing in the streets of Raith tonight”. This was a glaring error as Rovers home town is Kirkcaldy, not Raith. However, the phrase is repeated far too often for my liking and has become a little tiresome now. 

Funniest Moment?

For the last two seasons Raith had a striker called Gregory Tade. In his first campaign he was well known for tripping over his own feet and blazing shots over the bar from two yards out, but the funniest moment came during a match against Airdrie United in October 2009. Tade – who was already on a yellow card - received a through ball, turned his marker and blasted the ball not only over the bar, but out of the ground. The referee ran up to Tade, threw up a yellow card, followed by a red. A large number of Raith fans began to start laughing hysterically, for it appeared Tade had been given a second yellow card and sent off for simply being rubbish. To this day the sending off is a mystery. There was no foul in the build up to the shot and with Raith winning 2-0 at the time, one can only assume the referee mistook Tade's wild shot as an act of time wasting. 

Walker protests, but Tade is ordered off

Favourite Moment?

The full time whistle after beating Dundee at Dens Park in the Scottish Cup Quarter Final last season is by far and away my favourite moment. The sheer euphoria of the fact that Raith were going to Hampden Park, not to play Queens Park, but to play in a Scottish Cup Semi Final was just incredible. It was also the first Scottish Cup Semi Final Raith had made in forty-seven years which made me feel like I was part of the club making history.

Laurie Ellis celebrates the winning goal over Dundee

written by Will Lyon

Season Review 2010/11: Raith Rovers

Click here or read below for my season review of Raith Rovers. It was published on The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.

Raith Rovers: So Near, Yet So Far

Starks Park - the home of Raith Rovers

Watching your team miss out on promotion to your fierce local rivals after sitting at the top of the league for months on end is tough to take. Some may say that Raith Rovers possessed a squad that were never good enough to challenge for the title anyway, but having come so close it does not make it any easier to accept.

After winning promotion to the First Division in 2009, Raith finished seventh in their comeback season. It was a good achievement, especially after reaching their first Scottish Cup semi final in forty-seven years during the same campaign. However, even the most enthusiastic Rovers fan would not have predicted a title challenge in the 2010/11 season.

Despite comfortable wins over Partick Thistle and Dunfermline Athletic at the start of the season, followed by an SPL scalp in the League Cup, the expectation was that Raith would eventually lose their form and tip-toe down to their more natural position in the middle of the league. As it turned out, Raith never slipped down further than second place - a quite remarkable feat.

The key to Rovers success was their solid defence. Only eight league goals were conceded in the opening fifteen games. Craig Wilson, Grant Murray, Laurie Ellis and new signing Willie Dyer quickly gelled together and opposing teams struggled to break down their resistance. At the other end, striker John Baird would pull opposition defences all over the place with his neat technique and pace. His comrade Gregory Tade acted as the physical and acrobatic target man, causing absolute chaos amongst enemy lines. Although Baird and Tade were not the most clinical of finishers, the team possessed endless amounts of desire. Raith would time and time again force their tiring opponents into mistakes and find injury time goals to grind out an extra point or two.

A November fixture against Dunfermline would be a prime example. After a woeful eighty minutes, falling behind by two goals, Iain Williamson pounced on an error by goalkeeper Chris Smith to bring the deficit back to just one. Williamson hit the bar just minutes later, but Rovers were not done yet. Deep into injury time a speculative cross by Dyer was flicked on by Allan Walker and the ball just happened to loop into the top corner. This was not just an example of a comeback though. Walker's goal was one which kept Raith at the top of the league. Rovers fans made the short journey back to Kirkcaldy delirious with their team's spirit and it was this time that most started believing something special could be on the cards.

However, in typical Raith fashion the club crashed out of the Scottish Cup the following week at the hands of Second Division Alloa Athletic and went on to produce two mind-numbingly dull 0-0 draws against Partick and Falkirk.

The players regrouped however, and turned over the Pars in the New Year derby. Rovers then went up to Dingwall, claiming a narrow 1-0 victory, but it was here that the promotion train appeared to de-rail. Raith only managed to keep three clean sheets in the remaining nineteen league games. All of a sudden Rovers could no longer rely on just scoring one goal to win a match. This was a problem. Baird appeared to have lost some confidence, Tade was and always will be a poor goalscorer, Graham Weir had yet to score since May 2009 and Gary Wales was rarely fit. Now, Raith had to find even more desire and commitment to grind out results.

The Starks Park side managed to keep up with fellow title challengers Dunfermline for most of 2011, but ultimately the deciding game for the top position took place at East End Park on Saturday 23rd April. Raith looked jaded and one dimensional falling to a 2-1 defeat. The end result was Dunfermline gaining a four point advantage over the Kirkcaldy side with two games remaining. The Pars sealed the title seven days later cruising past Greenock Morton 2-0, while Raith lost 1-0 to Queen of the South, ironically falling to an injury time goal.

As the silent Starks Park troops walked home dejected, they tried to evaluate just how their side had missed out on a place in the SPL. Some blamed manager John McGlynn after he tinkered with a steady defence just before the New Year, bringing Mark Campbell into the centre of defence and shifting Ellis out to the left. However, to blame McGlynn for the sudden leaking of goals would be unfair as the outgoing Dyer lost his place due to injury and in the following months Ellis too, would struggle with his fitness.

More likely to be the significant two reasons for Raith's eventual downfall would be first: pressure and second: Dunfermline strengthening their squad.

The Rovers players were never expected to be challenging for promotion and after defeating Dunfermline at New Year, suddenly found the media turning up the heat, labelling them as real contenders for the title. Raith simply could not cope with the pressure. A second half capitulation to Morton at Starks Park in late January appeared to cause serious mental scarring amongst the Raith defence. In fact, it was at Starks Park that Rovers faltered most. Six defeats at home is simply not good enough for a team seeking the league title and the impact of the statistic looks all the more overwhelming when comparing it to Dunfermline's single loss at East End Park.

However, it was more than good form that emerged from East End Park. Dunfermline strengthened their squad quite considerably in January. Although talented winger Willie Gibson left to join Crawley Town, gaffer Jim McIntyre used the funds gained to bring in Liam Buchanan, Martin Hardie and Kevin Rutkiewicz. Buchanan went on to make seventeen appearances, Hardie fourteen and Rutkiewicz twelve. Contrast this to Raith's only January signing, Gary Wales, who featured just seven times from the bench.

Ultimately, Dunfermline were better equipped for promotion. McIntyre had his side playing neat, attractive football, while possessing the required desire and commitment in the latter stages of the season to grind out results when necessary. Raith melted as the levels of expectation rose, especially when playing at home and simply did not possess the required quality to see out the latter stages of the season.

Mid-table is once again the benchmark for Rovers next season, but with significant budget cuts this summer and fifteen departing players, there will be no miracle title challenge this time around. In fact, there is a possibility that the team could struggle to cope with the lengthy list of departures and come 2012, be flirting with relegation back to the Second Division.

written by Will Lyon