Is the Pendulum Swinging...

 

It's been a long time since Raith became the dominant force in these encounters, but given our less than impressive recent form, it looks like the pendulum will be swinging the other way very soon. Already bowing down to the likes of Arbroath, Morton, Hamilton etc, we need to get our house in order on and off the park and show the desire, passion and commitment to compete at this level. Failure will have massive repercussions  which could well signal the demise of the Caley Jags as we know them. Raith Rovers will host Inverness on Saturday with a 3:00pm kick-off.

MATCH INFO/TICKETS/SUPPORTERS TRAVEL

 

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	19	13	4	2	37	14	+23
Away	15	8	4	3	30	19	+11
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	34	21	8	5	67	33	+34

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

0 - 0 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

2 - 0 (H)

3 - 3 (A)

4 - 1 (H)

Biggest Victories

Jan 12th, 2002

League

(H)

5 - 0

Heaviest Defeats

Aug 26th, 2000

League

(A)

1 - 4

Last League game

We slumped to defeat at home to Morton, another side we became accustomed to beating regularly. A Gillespie penalty undoing us in another lack lustre performance, hot on the heels of the 4-1 drubbing at Firhill.

Rovers lost out to Partick Thistle 2-1 at Firhill. Tiffoney and Lawless put Partick two ahead but Ethan Ross replied immediately just before the break. That's how it finished.

That leaves Rovers one point above Inverness

Games this Saturday

Arbroath v Partick      

Cove v Accies

Dundee v Queen's

Morton v Ayr Utd

 Raith Rovers v Inverness CT

 

Latest Team News

Add Roddy MacGregor to the injury list after the Motherwell game, but George Oakley will rejoin the squad after being suspended in midweek. Usual suspects still out and two or three still carrying injuries.

Eric's Stark Revelations

Raith have a managerial change since last season with John McGlynn moving to Falkirk, his replacement is Ian Murray who joins after his contract expired at Ardrieonians.

The defenders who have left Stark's Park are Kyle Benedictus to Dunfermline, Frankie Musonda now at Ayr United, David Mackay left to join Q.O.S. and Reghan Tumulty transferred to Hartlepool Utd. In addition Seam Mackie's loan spell ended while Greig Young has been sent out on loan to Elgin City. Finally at the age of 37 veteran Christophe Berra has retired.

Midfielder Ben Williamson has been recalled to Rangers after his loan

Of last seasons forwards Matej Poplatnik loan from Livingston ended and Ethon Varian who was on loan from Stoke U21 is now with Irish side Bohemians.

New arrivals at Stark's Park.

A fourth goalkeeper has been added to the squad in Andy McNeil from Berwick Rangers.

Ryan Nolan an Irish born centre back saw his development with Inter U17 & U19 in Italy and came on a transfer via Northampton Town. Another centre back Connor O'Riordan is on loan from Crewe Alexandra. On loan from Aberdeen FC B is left back Kieran Ngwenya and at right back is Ross Millen transfer from Scunthorpe Utd previously with numerous Scottish clubs such as Dunfermline, Queens Park, Kilmarnock and Clyde FC.

Scott Brown a central midfield player joins from Peterhead FC. Up front centre forward Kyle Connell is on loan from Kilmarnock.

Long term injuries for Raith are.

Tom Lang centre back, cruciate ligament surgery

Ross Mathews midfield, sore toe

Brad Spencer midfield, foot surgery

Lewis Vaughan forward, cruciate ligament rupture.

 

Cheers Eck.

Breaking News

Due to our inability to hit the target recently, new goalposts have been installed at the Caledonian Stadium to give us a better chance of scoring. A club spokesperson has said "we can't hit a coo in the arse with a banjo, so this should help us to improve our goals scored".

Only 5 on the bench, a mixture of youth and walking wounded. Ridgers kept us goalless at ht with a great save from Easton. Carson was booked for an off the ball incident and lost the place, and had to be restrained or he would no doubt have got another, to the glee of the home fans who gave him pelters from then on.
Second half I thought we were superb. Defended brilliantly and never gave Rovers a sniff. Danny Devine was majestic. Great work by Daniel for the penalty but thought he had a quiet game, played pretty deep to help snuff out some of the threat down our left. When Billy came on for Oakley you could sense it coming, even a half fit Billy is an upgrade on George, sorry to say. Great work again by Daniel in the buildup and, well, he scores when he wants.
Somebody else might want to comment on the bald steward who apparently assaulted a young lad at the celebrations for the second goal. Didn’t see it myself but made sure of a photo to identify him.

Edited September 3, 20223 yr by TheMantis

21 minutes ago, IBM said:

 

I say,

Sir Billy Dodds?

Eh what? 🧐 

12 minutes ago, No Shin Guards said:

I say,

Sir Billy Dodds?

Eh what? 🧐 

You are effing joking, Eh what 

24 minutes ago, IBM said:

You are effing joking, Eh what 

I say,

I never joke. It's not in my nature. 

Eh what? 🧐 

Danny D and Robbie D were immense in the second half but I was hugely impressed by the shift Cammy Harper put in in an advanced central midfield role. The boy has some engine and covered every blade of grass. Considering he was completely out if his comfort zone I thought he was excellent.  Great to see young lads stepping up and putting in key performances when so many senior players are missing. A massively pleasing 3 points. Poor old Raith must absolutely hate the sight of us.

Thanks Mantis and ymip, it sounds like we deservedly won and were good in the second half in particular.

I was critical of recent performances, but hopefully we’ve turned a corner and are back on track.

I said on Wednesday that I’d join the “Dodds out” group if we lost today so I’m happy to give him more time to prove he can make us competitive in this league and have us in a real promotion fight.

It’s good to read how well Harper did in midfield and that the Devine / Deas partnership was solid.

Edited September 3, 20223 yr by Robert

1 hour ago, ymip said:

  Great to see young lads stepping up and putting in key performances when so many senior players are missing. 

Particularly pleasing to see young LOCAL lads stepping up.

Would be great to see ICT in the Premiership in a few years time, challenging for a Euro place with a first team consisting mostly of Highlanders.

CTO report now published

 

Finally made it back to Yorkshire after a weekend in edinburgh and taking in my 1st ICT game of the season.
 

Strange line up with Carson and Harper playing further up the park but it seemed to work and both played well. 
 

First half I thought we started a bit slow and looked a bit shaky but started to play better as the half went on. Ridgers save was top draw to keep the game at 0-0. Did anyone see what happened with Carson just before HT to get booked? Off the ball incident but I didn't see what happened. 
 

2nd half we were far the better team and deserved all 3 points. Danny Mackay was brilliant and caused RR loads of problems, it's amazing what you can achieved when you play to  your strengths and run at defenders. We really do play better with the ball at feet then playing hoofball up to a target man. Our defence was solid and I love to see the same line up in the next game. 
 

On a sour note, I appreciate that at football games you are going to hear fans shouting a swearing at bad decisions, bad fouls and generally giving the opposition a bit of stick, However, there was one caley fan in particular who should be absolutely ashamed of himself. The abuse and language coming out of his mouth was nothing short of disgusting! If I was at that game with my niece or nephew I would have left, totally unacceptable and for me, defiantly put a downer on a great result. 

 

57 minutes ago, Doofer said:

Finally made it back to Yorkshire after a weekend in edinburgh and taking in my 1st ICT game of the season.
 

Strange line up with Carson and Harper playing further up the park but it seemed to work and both played well. 
 

First half I thought we started a bit slow and looked a bit shaky but started to play better as the half went on. Ridgers save was top draw to keep the game at 0-0. Did anyone see what happened with Carson just before HT to get booked? Off the ball incident but I didn't see what happened. 
 

2nd half we were far the better team and deserved all 3 points. Danny Mackay was brilliant and caused RR loads of problems, it's amazing what you can achieved when you play to  your strengths and run at defenders. We really do play better with the ball at feet then playing hoofball up to a target man. Our defence was solid and I love to see the same line up in the next game. 
 

On a sour note, I appreciate that at football games you are going to hear fans shouting a swearing at bad decisions, bad fouls and generally giving the opposition a bit of stick, However, there was one caley fan in particular who should be absolutely ashamed of himself. The abuse and language coming out of his mouth was nothing short of disgusting! If I was at that game with my niece or nephew I would have left, totally unacceptable and for me, defiantly put a downer on a great result. 

 

Good to hear from another fan who was at the game I hope you enjoyed your weekend north of the border   Carson is much better playing where he should be in midfield and I think Harper does play well further up the park.  I am glad the defence was better yesterday and Ridgers producing a solid performance, in addition I think Delaney will be good for us.  It's sad there are still some supporters who let the club down instead of leaving with young ones you should go and tell him to shut the F*** up 

I can see now why Rovers fans were so pessimistic despite our rotten form. Apart from the first 15 - 20 minutes were they looked lively and we lacked any composure at the back, they were rotten. Gullan was their only real threat before he went off injured and after that I felt we were the better team overall and deserved the win. 

Odd line up with Harper seemingly playing as a CM but then it became clear that was actually playing further forward behind Oakley. He didn't look like a complete fish out of water but it's hard to say he excelled there. Boyd also looked pretty lost for most of the game but on the positive side Devine and Delaney were solid at the back. The former seldom lost an aerial dual and Delaney timed his challenges very well and broke up a number of Rovers attacks down his side. He looked comfortable stepping out of defence with the ball at his feet as well. Probably my MotM. 

Best chances for Raith were probably the cracking volley from the aforementioned Gullan that drifted just wide and a curling effort that Ridgers superbly turned round the post. Great run by MacKay for the penalty. He had Kevin McKidd on toast for most of that game so it wasn't much of a surprise to see him be beaten yet again and having to scythe MacKay down. Nicely taken by Allardice. 

Bit of fortune with the second goal. After a comedy clearance by Carson, a Raith throw in ended up with MacKay and as he controlled the ball he did so with his arm as he broke down the right side. Undeterred he sent in a fine low cross which found Mckay in acres of space and he steadied himself before coolly slotting past Scottish Cup hero Jamie MacDonald.

Given our patched up starting XI and recent performances it was a cracking result but we still look poor in places and whilst it was good to get a win we will need to seriously improve against Hamilton next week if we want to take 3 points there.

On 9/2/2022 at 11:54 PM, Robert said:

So Samuels out for a month and MacGregor for a few weeks. That takes our injury count to Ram, Welsh, MacGregor, Walsh, Sutherland, Doran, Shaw and Samuels, unless Doran and Shaw have recovered. Devine is walking wounded. Have I missed anyone?

Hopefully Devine is fit enough to start so Duffy can be right back and Carson in midfield.

The injury list is horrendous but doesn't excuse our recent performances.

Better please!

Crikey with that injury list it must have a bearing...I'm still don't know what or how Welsh got his injury, was it something he played through during the play-offs. Samuels is a big blow, and we don't even know what Max can do. We need the 2021 MacGregor back

Echo what RiG said.  Raith Rovers were as bad as Morton, but we got a bit of good fortune with a penalty which lifted our heads for the final push and the second goal.  We weren't tested in any fashion, but we at least came away with a result and a clean sheet.  It definitely wasn't any great shifts in terms of a turnaround in performance and there's was no change in the underlying tactics.

We can have no complaints about the injury list or the effects of it.  We sign players with a known history of injuries and don't sign players to cover in positions where we have existing long term injuries.

Congratulations to the team on the win, hopefully gives them some belief and confidence. Funny what a win can do regardless of performance, whether Raith were poor or not, I've always been a big believer that you can only beat what's put in front of you.

I'm still in the undecided camp regarding BD, once win doesn't make a season but it can kickstart it so we'll see what happens.