Over & Out

New Signing Oscar McIntyre went straight into the starting XI with Ross Millen, Calum MacLeod and Paul Allan missing from the midweek massacre at East Kilbride. David Wotherspoon also started but Billy Mckay was on the bench.

Both sides failed to qualify for the knockout stages despite Rovers trouncing the Caley Jags 5-1 at Stark's Park. Three goals in the first half from Dylan Easton (x2 one pen) and Jack Hamilton killed the contest with Wotherspoon getting a consolation before Easton completed his hat-trick once more from the spot and our misery was complete when Remi Savage knocked in an own goal off his back in stoppage time. Meh!

Raith Rovers, with nothing to play for were quick out of the blocks and were two ahead inside seven minutes. Dylan Easton with a quickfire brace, opening the scoring in the fourth minute with a half volley from the edge of the box and three minutes later converting a penalty after Longstaff upended Paul McMullan in the box. Liam Sole did put the ball in the net but was flagged offside after seventeen minutes. Oscar MacIntyre, not known for his goalscoring endeavours, went close from a tight angle but narrowly missed the target. The visitors were seeing plenty of the ball with half an hour gone, but it was the hosts who held a two goal advantage. They increased that ten minutes before the interval when Jack Hamilton scored a third shortly after Scott Brown went close. A Wotherspoon corner was whipped in and clipped a post, but that was as close as we came before Hamilton then fired a free kick wide with five minutes of the half remaining.

HALF TIME: 3-0 (ouch!)

No changes at the interval but Wotherspoon pulled a goal back on the hour off a Mathew Strachan cross from the left but five minutes later Easton completed his hat-trick from the spot again after handball by Savage. His day would get worse in stoppage time when the ball bounced off him into the net after Munro had parried an effort, although Raith are claiming it for Josh Mullin . Plenty of substitutions around the hour took the edge off the game with Raith in cruise control despite Wotherspoon's morsel of consolation on a day when both clubs left the competition. A couple of late bookings for the Thompson Twins. It must run in the family...

It would appear Remi Savage was at the end of the game for kicking the ball aggressively in the direction of the referee. However, similar to the ninety minutes, he missed. Not much he could have done about the penalty to be honest, but this will possibly mean he will miss the start of the league campaign against Kelty if it's seen as violent conduct. Otherwise it will mean he misses next League Cup game.

FULL TIME: 5-1 (sore one)

 Caley 100 on CTO: A big feckin OUCH! Thought Tuesday was going to be sign of things to come! Obviously not. Striker required! Apply ICT, Stadium road Inverness.

Robert: This may turn out to be a timely reality check and ensure we are focussed on hitting the ground running next Saturday at Kelty. Better to lose today, when our chances of qualifying were slim, than in a league game. But I agree, we do need to get a striker in or that could be our Achilles heel again.

No Listen! To be honest with you, we were sh!te...

Date:  26/07/2025  Venue: Stark's Park Attendance: 1032 Referee: Ross Hardie
 

Raith Rovers: 5 (five)

• Manager: Barry Robson

• Lineup:  Rae; Rowe (Mullin 59), Hanlon, Fordyce, Doherty, Brown, Byrne (Mathews 65 ),

• Stevenson, McMullan Chin 59), Hamilton (Vaughan 59), Easton (Montagu 69)

• Subs (not used):  Glavin; Gibson, Hannah, Raeside

• Scorers: Easton (4, 7pen, 64pen), Hamilton (36), Savage (90+2 og)

• Booked: none

• Sent Off: none

Inverness CT: 1

• Manager: Scott Kellacher

• Lineup:  Munro; MacIntyre, Devine, Savage, Strachan, Sole (R Thompson 67), Chalmers (S Thompson 80),

• Stewart (Gardiner 80), Longstaff (Kerr 67), Wotherspoon (Mckay 67), Alonge

• Subs (not used): Ross; Nixon, Walker, Keogh,

• Scorers: Wotherspoon (58)

• Booked: Devine (67), S Thompson (86), R Thompson (89)

• Sent Off: Savage (after final whistle)