HUGE 3 points

Nervy most of second half, but we'll take that. Well done lads.

Excellent!  well needed win and i'm glad Daniel got a goal!  great for his confidence.

Whew.....

We looked knackered and I’m not surprised. Great effort by everyone of them. Perhaps not the silkiest of games but all that mattered was 3 points. Delighted for Dan MackAy to score tonight. 

Badly needed 3 points. Not entirely convincing but could have taken a couple of chances, made it safe and given us fewer nerves...

Good to see Storey and McHattie return...Hope Welsh isn't broken again.

Big relief to get that 3 points we so badly needed.

The 4 points gained against Raith gives us some hope - big well done shout out to all on and off the pitch for a good weeks work!

2 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

Badly needed 3 points. Not entirely convincing but could have taken a couple of chances, made it safe and given us fewer nerves...

...bit like watching Scotland trying to qualify!

Hopefully the start of a winning run.

Crikey that was tense, especially following it via BBC website/Livescore App....what an evening to start drinking whisky!

Hopefully, Welsh and Keatings knocks aren't too bad, and their subs was down to time management

Good that Daniel got the only goal after he got a little bit of criticism about his performance on Friday

It is crazy that suddenly a promotion place is within reach, lets hope Dunfermline don't snuff that out this weekend, as chasing a play-off spot is more motivational than trying to stay out of trouble.

Get in there!!!!! A nervous last few minutes but a good night's work. Great effort lads

I think we deserved the win. We were well on top for most of the first half, both before and after the red card. We were unlucky not to be ahead from Devine’s header and Mackay’s shot.

Raith started the second half strongly and our goal was against the run of play, but we deserved it. Good finish by Mackay after Raith messed up dealing with a long kick out by Ridgers.

We then had to defend in the main and came under a fair deal of pressure, but between Ridgers and poor finishing we came through unscathed and had a few chances on the break.

Deas was the top player for me, particularly in the first half, whilst Welsh bossed the midfield in the first half. We cannot question the effort or commitment of any of them. Carson neutralised Kennedy again whilst Devine handled Ugwu well.

I hope Welsh and Keatings are ok after the knocks they took.

We now need to build on this. We looked confident in the first half and need to repeat that at Dunfermline on Saturday.

If we can, maybe we can look up the table again rather than looking down it!

A very big ask for what must be a tired squad nursing numerous knocks but if we can somehow best the Pars on Saturdsy we can just about stop looking anxiously over our shoulders and begin to look forward again.

Things are looking just a little less gloomy.

Great result. That was a deserved win. Onwards and upwards.

Great energy in the first half, sat off a bit too much in the second but a great 3 points. A great boost for the team. A great lift for us.

8 minutes ago, Robert said:

If we can, maybe we can look up the table again rather than looking down it!

We have the choice - 3 points off 4th and 3 points from 9th, keeps the glass half-full and the glass half-empty crowds both happy!

If we manage to clinch playoffs after this train wreck of a season, I'll need to invest in some Pyro

What baffles me is, we spend all this time keeping possession and passing it backwards, as if it's going to lead to somebody finding a pass, but then we just hoof it anyway. May as well just hoof it right away...

30 minutes ago, CaleyCanary said:

...bit like watching Scotland trying to qualify!

Wasn't quite as draining as that Serbia game, don't think I've recovered yet 

What is it with us and playing well against top teams yet struggle against "bottom half/smaller teams" 

We have now drawn Hearts, Raith once and Dunfermline plus beaten Raith twice.  

Regarding struggling teams : One loss and 2 draws v Alloa, 1 draw against Arbroath and a loss to Morton.

It's weird how that is the case :ictscarf:

7 hours ago, CaleyTennis said:

What is it with us and playing well against top teams yet struggle against "bottom half/smaller teams" 

I have sometimes wondered if it is similar to me when I used to play golf

When I was having a bad round, chances are I would do best - par or birdie - on the hardest holes on the course, and screw up the easier ones.

My wife is no sports coach or golfer, but when I said this to her, she had an immediate suggestion - "you must concentrate better on the hard holes". 

Something similar could well be going on with the team.

Very pleased with the win.  Couldn't believe the first ten minutes or so - we came right out of the blocks with attitude and pinned them back, setting the scene for the rest of the match.  As so often, 10 men were hard to beat - maybe it's that concentration thing again, with the 10 men putting in a little extra.

Once again we can thank Mark Ridgers for keeping us alive.  I have just looked at the BBC stats, and am surprised to see that the shooting stats are about even - I though that Raith had more scoring chances than we did.  We still couldn't score in a brothel.

And finally, I learned a new expression - "that rips my mitten".  The only other reference to it that I can find is that one of the presenters on "Off The Ball" uses it a lot, and so I've never heard it down here in Englandshire.  Sounds useful, and I assume it's not rude, otherwise they wouldn't have been saying it!   

@snorbens_caleyman It’s knitting, not mitten...

24 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

@snorbens_caleyman It’s knitting, not mitten...

So it is.    Still never heard it before 

In my defence, I offer you this from https://www.football365.com/news/programme-of-the-week-bbc-radio-scotlands-off-the-ball

"Stuart comments that Tam is always using the expression about things that “absolutely rip yer mitten”. I have yet to find out what “rip yer mitten” actually means but I don’t care. It’s a great expression and anyone who says it’s not really rips my mitten."

After all the doom and gloom two pretty encouraging performances against a decent Championship rival. It would have been nice to have bagged more than one goal but any win will do right now.

We were on top from the off with a neatly taken corner drifted to the edge of the box where Allardice met the ball and headed goalwards but it came off the bar. When the ball was played back into the penalty area it fell to Sutherland but he took too long to get a shot away and when he did it was too weak to trouble MacDonald. With Raith just as willing to try and attack there was plenty of space for both sides to exploit.

That changed when Davidson was shown a straight red when he tussled with Todorov for a high ball . There didn't look to be too much in it but with Todorov on the floor and ICT players incensed the referee showed Davidson a straight red. Davidson then channelled his inner Alex Bone and started shouting at Todorov whilst he was lying on the ground and then grabbed Sean Welsh by the throat before shouting at anyone who would listen to him as he stomped off the pitch.

Raith started to sit back a little deeper after this and we struggled to break them down, as we have done so often against teams who are more defensive minded. Danny MacKay almost grabbed the opener when he collected the ball on the left and drove past his man into the box before attempting to curl the ball in at the back post but MacDonald was equal to it and pushed the effort away.

Raith threatened when Regan Hendry turned a couple of ICT players inside but his resultant cross evaded all of his team mates. Welsh and MacGregor then linked up to play in Sutherland but he was snuffed out before he could get a decent shot away.

Raith opened the second half strongly when Kennedy teed up Hendry who lashed a long range effort on goal from about 25 yards but Ridgers tipped it over. From a Rovers corner ICT then grabbed the opener. Ridgers sent a long ball downfield for MacKay to chase and, under pressure from a Rovers defender and MacDonald rushing out to meet him, he coolly lifted the ball over the keeper and into the net.

MacKay had another great chance when MacGregor poked a ball through to him but as he cut in from the left he again tried to curl and effort in at the back post but he didn't place it far enough away from MacDonald to trouble him. Ridgers was called into action again to tip over a Benedictus header from a corner as Raith looked to draw level but Welsh almost killed the game off when he tried to pass a shot in from just outside the box but it drifted wide.

A Keatings free kick found Deas in space at the back post and he was able to turn the ball back across goal but no one was on hand to turn it and we were almost made to pay when Vaughan dragged the ball away from Mckay and tested Ridgers who palmed the ball away.

Plenty of changes for both sides and it is a bit surprising that there weren't more goals but three points and a clean sheet are hugely welcomed at this stage in the season.