Jump to content

Raith Rovers v Inverness CT - Preview


Robert

Recommended Posts

On one view, a point away from home against the current form team in the league could have been a decent result.

However, our second failure this season to capitalise on a numerical advantage is very disappointing indeed, especially as today's faiure enabled Kilmarnock to close the gap on us.

The five points squandered against ten man Hamilton Accies and ten man Raith Rovers could well prove to be the difference between gaining promotion this season or not.

That's not good enough.

  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

On one view, a point away from home against the current form team in the league could have been a decent result.

However, our second failure this season to capitalise on a numerical advantage is very disappointing indeed, especially as today's faiure enabled Kilmarnock to close the gap on us.

The five points squandered against ten man Hamilton Accies and ten man Raith Rovers could well prove to be the difference between gaining promotion this season or not.

That's not good enough.

Didn't see the match but cannot agree with your assumption that playing against 10 men and not winning isn't good enough. It is not always the advantage people think it is if the other team is well organised which both Raith and Hamilton were against us.  Hamilton were also 2 goals up when their player was sent off. Its a different story if the team with eleven men score first as then you usually see them winning but it isn't always the advantage some people think it is. 

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’d have taken 1-1 before kick off and then when Raith took the lead.

Credit the players for getting back into it and a draw was a fair result.

It was quite a scrappy game, particularly the first half. Broadfoot was booked in only 50 seconds and the only chance I recall was a Welsh free kick that nearly went over the stand. Neither ‘keeper was tested. The pitch seemed slippery and was not helping with players losing their footing a few times, notably Mckay and MacGregor. So much for plastic surfaces!

The sending off worried me as I thought it would galvanise Raith and, after we started the second half brightly, they got their goal from a cross from Zanatta. It was the only time he got the better of Duffy all game and the scorer got between our defenders to give Ridgers no chance.

After that, I thought we would struggle to break them down, but we had our best spell and got a deserved equaliser when the ball fell to Welsh about 20 yards out and he finished well.

It is good to be top, and we matched up to Raith well, but it was a game we could have won. However in past seasons we would have probably lost it, so in my book a point gained.

We now need to keep our 100% home record going against Arbroath on Tuesday and then we have Partick away which will be another big test. 

  • Like 2
  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Robert said:

The pitch seemed slippery and was not helping with players losing their footing a few times, notably Mckay and MacGregor. So much for plastic surfaces!

They had the sprinklers on it before kick off and again at half time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am even going to forego the traditional Smileymometer for reasons that I will explain later. Three descriptive words in alphabetical order - Dissapointing - Insipid - Toothless. The first half was devoid of a decent attempt from either side. Best way to describe it was like watching two people playing Fifa on PS5 who have never played before !! Broadfoot was probably the victim of a Kirkcaldy sprinkler ploy as they soaked the pitch and the away end for ten minutes before the game started. And as for the second half I could have stopped off at the Sea World exhibition as watching two gangs of feckin crabs fighting would have been exactly the same. The sending off at the end of the first half did look harsh but I will need a VAR view to decide. I actually was worried about how we would fare against 10 men and it was actually Raif who went into "defend or die" mode and looked dangerous on the break. We played like a team of Ray Wilkins and rarely looked threatening. We did use the width but instead of going for the line we passed sideways or backwards. The only times that we looked dangerous was when McGregor and Gardyne (for the goal) hit the byeline. Again need another look but I think that Mckay fluffed the cut back and it landed nicely for Welsh who managed to fire through a number of bodies. Now I have to take task with Robert as I felt that Raif focussed on Zanatta on Duffy in the second half. Zanatta simply provided the guile for the goal. Thankfully he was then swopped to the right to try and cover Gardyne who was beginning to pull the strings on that wing. Zanatta could even have won it at the death. At the end of the day plating 10 men may well have been our downfall and we needed to break them down and simply did not have the required penetration or last pass to do that. Still like a few views before me I would have taken a draw at the start - and apart from Killie the other scores favoured us.

As for the Smileymometer I would have given 😊😊😊 to everyone and there was nobody who stood out. I also feel that Doddsie could have double teamed Zanatta and this was NOT a game for Doran. And as for the referee well he was feckin excellent !!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Had a quick look at ‘top 5 vpn’ or whatever and they were all needing me to fork out money for something I would hardly ever need. 

Problem with googling 'Top 5' of anything like VPN (or hosting) is that the various providers typically setup multiple sites where their product comes out on top ... or at least gets a great review. CNET or other independent sites are a good indicator. For VPN, the ones that work tend to have a cost.

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were lucky not to lose that today. I felt we had a lot of the ball in the first half but we created nothing of any note whatsoever. Raith didn't really do much but they at least managed a shot on goal when Connolly (I think) cracked an effort goalwards but it was deflected wide. That genuinely might have been the first shot of the game and that was around the 40 minute mark. I missed the red card so I can't really comment on it. Raith are pretty good at getting the highlights out quickly so I guess it will be cleared up pretty quickly. I couldn't seem to figure out what our line up was. Seemed that Sutherland was playing wide right with Gardyne left and Welsh, Allardice and MacGregror all moving around the middle of the pitch taking it in turns to push forward to support Mckay.

Second half I feel we regressed a lot. Raith seemed the more capable team despite playing a man down. Again, I struggle to think of anything of note we created before Raith did take the lead bar an curled effort by Sutherland which was sent just wide of the post. The Raith goal was from a lovely run by Zannatta, nice cut back and a smashing finish by Connolly. Although we got back into it after good work down the left side by Gardyne and a well struck effort from Welsh Raith had the best chance to win it when Zannatta found space but, like Sutherland, he failed to wrap his foot around the shot enough to get it on target. Gardyne appeared to play more centrally and almost looked like he had been given a free role to go wherever he wanted. When Doran came on our structure seemed to totally collapse and we played so narrow it was very strange to see. I thought we would have tried to stretch the Raith backline and have Doran or Gardyne attempt to pull players out of position but it never seemed to happen.

I'm a wee bit worried that we are consistently not playing very well. We've only had one really good 45 minutes of football this season and that was the second half against Partick. We had a lot of the ball today and created hee haw with it and Raith, despite only having ten men, should probably have won the game. If we want to seriously challenge for the title we need to improve. a lot.

On another note Jamie MacDonald is absolutely brilliant. A good keeper and, as always, he took the gentle ribbing we always give him very well. A top guy.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

And as for the referee well he was feckin excellent !!!!!

The Raith commentators were really good, as always, and I did like their taking the mickey out of the referee.

"Take 30 lines.   "I must not backchat to the referee".  Before the start of the second half!"   🤣🤣

  • Funny 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • tm4tj unpinned this topic
  • tm4tj locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy