raith rovers

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Man Utd got turned over by an Asian pub side and then Chelski win by one goal. Lincoln beat Villa, Oldham beat City. As I alluded to before we are stepping up the gears and my only fear is that we have given us only one real motivational text before the start of the season.

[alternative maryhill]

On reflection a draw was fair but i will be honest we never really looked like winning.

 

Early days for our new investments but at a first glimpse against decent opposition it was definitely Williams that stood out. He came on 2nd half and gave an impressive performance, beat his man on several occasions and got some good crosses in, he also teed up Foran who wasted a chance. Brill had little to do apart from picking it out of his net, he had no chance with either goals but showed good handling when tested, was also very vocal and did his best to get play going again. Vincent was solid if unspectacular. Definitely not suited to playing further forward. Seemed more comfortable in holding mid, think it was him who teed up Ross for his chance. Greenhalgh im sorry to say struggled to make an impact. Was never really in the game and when he was on the ball he either got brushed off too easily or gave it away. He isnt going to get as much time as he would in non league, needs to be quicker but its early days. 

 

Overall it was a decent display. They recovered well and in the end got what they deserve. I think the more these boys play together the better they will get. Still got to see Allen and Watkins in action too. Between Christie, Cooper and Polworth its nice to see youngsters getting integrated into the first team. Hope they get a chance in the league too. Plenty to look forward to.

 

This pretty much sums up what I thought about the game. I would like to have seen more of the new signings in action, but at the same time it was useful to see how just a couple of new players fitted into an otherwise familiar team. Vincent didn't really make any impact on me, but in fairness, he did spend most of the game in that deep-lying role where it is possible to do simple but important things well and stay under the radar. First impressions are that he doesn't quite have the presence and drive of Draper (who I would hope will be kept in that central role rather than being stuck out wide as he was sometimes towards the end of last season), but it will probably take him a few games to grow into the team and start to show his best game. Similar to his performance last week against Elgin, Greenhalgh looked keen and tried to get onto the ball, but most of the time the Raith right back had him in his pocket. Like Roberts last season, he looked like he would struggle to compete for strength with a lot of the SPL players and would get bullied off the ball too easily. Again, obviously these are very early days, but he is a player who is likely to be played in a prominent attacking wide role, and unless he can work on improving his strength on the ball quickly, people might start to get frustrated with him. He does look like he's got a bit of skill, however.

 

Williams certainly looked nippier and more direct and dangerous than Greenhalgh when he came on, and I'll look forward to seeing more of him, but for me the real positive was Liam Polworth's display in the second half. The goal, which was a screamer, epitomised his performance - driving forward from midfield, taking the ball on, looking for opportunities. The whole team seemed lifted by his presence. Arguably the most important question about our team for the coming season will be who fulfils the Andrew Shinnie role and provides the key support for Billy Mackay (who looked sharp and worked very hard yesterday, but was far too poorly served in the first half). I had assumed that either Foran or Doran or possibly Greenhalgh would be tried there, but I wonder if Polworth might turn out to be the best option?

 

Ideally, I'd like to have seen a performance that showed more clearly why we are a division above Raith, but while we were outplayed by a strong and tidy-looking team in the first half, the second certainly provided some grounds for optimism and raised a few interesting questions about how we will line up for the start of the season.       

[HeScoresWhenHeWants]

I enjoyed travelling to Raith and it was my first time at Starks too but the play in the first half especially was very poor IMO. Liam Polworth came on about 60-65 minutes and did extremely well in that time. He also scored the late equaliser which was a great hit from the edge of the box.

We started badly when Richie and G Shinnie had a misunderstanding that led to them punishing us and then we just turned off again later on in the first half to let them score a second. We should have actually made it 1-1 when Nick Ross was through on goal 1 on 1 with McKay beside him but he ended up making a mess of the pass. We got one back on half time when Doran I think hit the post but luckily a defender for Raith just knocked it in and Liam Polworths goal was a really good finish but overall I think we were lucky to come away with the draw and I didn't think the performance was great.

i've noticed that first division clubs normally like to come quick at the defenders when the defending team have the ball and also put you under a lot of pressure, but when you see SPL teams they don't really put as much pressure on them when it's say a goal kick taken short or when a goalkeeper has possession in his box. Dean Brill was put under a lot of pressure by the attackers yesterday but I think that's just a sign that that's not gunna be what this seasons all about. Good day out though:)

[PaderbornCaley]

Not a great match and not a great performance i'm afraid.  Rovers were the better team.  First half we were terrible.  Struggling to string passes together and hoofing the ball up to Billy McKay on his own.  The defence looked shaky.  We were extremely fortunate to be only 2-1 down at half time. 

 

Although Ben Greenhalgh clearly has good skill he was being pushed off the ball far too easily and needs to toughen up.  Liam Polwarth came on in second half and we improved from that moment. I thought that Polwarth was one of the stand outs.  A huge positive.  Doran also had a good game as did Raven.  Goodness knows what was wrong with Warren however.  Probably his worst performance in an ICT shirt.  He looked nervous and lost the ball on a few occasions.  He played well against Elgin the previous week though so hopefully this was a one off performance. 

 

Rovers fans treated us very well and we had some great craic in 'Styx' pre and post match.  They all hate Derek Adams :)

 

Although there were good performances from a few players, far too many had an off day.  We must do better.

Edited July 21, 2013 by CapitalCaley

[CaleyD]

I'm reading nothing at all into the game.

 

It was quite clear that a few of our guys weren't going to risk heat stroke by running themselves ragged in what was just a friendly.  One of the Raith staff said the thermostat hit 30 during the game, so perhaps understandable that they decided to take it a bit easy.

 

Not great for those there watching, but as I've said elsewhere, pre-season is not about entertaining the fans.

[Libero]

'Highlights' available

Great goal from Polworth, pretty shoddy defending for both their goals

[lukemackay]

its pretty evident who the spl side is and who the 1st division side is. looks like we dominated most the play and they scored through a couple defensive errors.

came back though, great to see that with the new players coming in and a couple leaving that we still have that capability.

[Renegade]

Good goal - rubbish graphics.

[CaleyD]

Good goal - rubbish graphics.

 

Many of these highlight reels etc being produced by clubs throughout Scotland are being done by volunteer fans who are working with little or no budget.  I can assure you that fancy graphics are way down anyone's list of priorities.

[Renegade]

It's not necessarily the graphics, it's the fact that it tells us there's been a goal (who knew?!) with lots of exclamation marks as if it was doing a live commentary!  It's a bit like Partick's old highlights (I don't know if they still do it) which had this weird 80s music video style replays which were really difficult to watch!

[Libero]

Don't see anything wrong with the graphics whatsoever, a lot better than a lot of other clubs.

 

The goals pop ups aren't they-re to tell you there been a goal, its to say who scored and when. Perfectly reasonable, Sky do it, BBC do it, ESPN does it

 

To be perfectly honest I don't watch the highlights to judge other teams media quality, I watch it to ease the pain of getting through the close season without competitive football, job nearly done on this occasion

[KingBeastie]

The highlights don't really show how much Rovers dominated the first half IMO.

There was also a lot of long ball played I thought.

Warren had a howler (worryingly), Foran too and Greenhaugh was our weakest player and rightly subbed.

From watching Terry & Mo I felt they had set the tea up to play a certain way in the 1st half and although it was clear it wasn't working they were letting it play the 45 mins.  The 2nd half was much better and good to see some of the younger players play well.  Also Doran and Raven we good as was Mackay's effort.

While Brillopad did nothing wrong it concerns me slightly that both goals we conceded we from roughly the same angle.

 

Despite my slightly negative comments I think it was a good workout for the team and see no real cause for alarm.  Great day out in the sunshine too.  A good few beers with come Raith fans too!