Raith Rovers v Forfar/Forfar v Raith Rovers

[Easy Days for Raith]

Decent atmosphere

[JinkyBairn]

Bairdy. 

[buchan30]

We sat off and let baird shoot. Simple stuff, go and pressure them.

[Brashy's Boots]

We're going nowhere. They've got us sussed.

[Raith Against The Machine]

Am I going to have to bang on AGAIN about playing proper fucking fullbacks?

I'm a big fan of Dave McKay but he's not taking up the right positions for getting forward and it's killing us. Crane was great first half, but they've got him sussed. We can't get out.

[Wardy]

McGlynn in

[Michael W]

Phew. 

[Raithie]

It’s only half time etc but it’s a lead at least going into Saturday. See prior to tonight we had 2 busses full and now selling seats for a 3rd bus. Would suspect we’ll take a decent support on Saturday. Going to be a nervy game me thinks.

[Scary Bear]

Second win in the play-offs. Good skills. Now, can we actually win a play-off semi-Final and get the monkey off our back?

It’s still very evenly balanced. I’d have liked a more comfortable cushion than one goal, but better than the usual draw or 2-0 defeat.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Scary Bear

[Loondave1]

Good game enjoyed that. Feel a bit unfortunate but the tie is still in the balance which is the main thing. Bairdy though !

[loon00]

Very good game to watch. Surprised Raith only escaped with 2 yellows as they were at it the whole game, frustrating to see at times. Disappointed to come away with nothing but at least it’s still all to play for.

[raith1974]

Crane played well tonight. Midfield shocking especially Barjonas. Buchanan can stay on the bench. Thought McKay did okay but McGlynn was asking him to cover far too much ground with no one on front of him. 

[LoonsYouthTeam]

Bit gutted to be honest as thought we could have drawn that.

Thought both teams took a while to settle but once they did we had a lot of the ball but didn't really look dangerous.

Raith came more into it as it wore on and we were sleeping a bit as they worked it well down the left and were punished by a good cross and good header.

Great response with typical Hilson tenacity winning the ball well before Baird hit his belter. I'd like to see it again as it was some strike but was on the keepers side.

Second half we looked tidy on the ball but again didn't create much, we started to give it away more and Raith again scored when they were back in the game. We were caught out badly at the free kick and it was annoying that we had seen the same thing just minutes earlier.

The game then got scrappy with a few meaty challenges. I actually thought Hilson was lucky not to be sent off for his foul as it was dangerous.

Last 5 minutes we pushed more and were unlucky with a cross that was superbly defended at the back post and a great block from the keeper when Bain snuck around the back but just couldn't get passed him.

Overall I think although we played some nice stuff there were times we could have went at them more and although we had more of the ball Raith were more dangerous with it.

Still, we're in the tie and although Raith are favourites I don't see why we can't get back into it.

[roverzJames]

[R.R.FC]

3 minutes ago, LoonsYouthTeam said:

Bit gutted to be honest as thought we could have drawn that.

Thought both teams took a while to settle but once they did we had a lot of the ball but didn't really look dangerous.

Raith came more into it as it wore on and we were sleeping a bit as they worked it well down the left and were punished by a good cross and good header.

Great response with typical Hilson tenacity winning the ball well before Baird hit his belter. I'd like to see it again as it was some strike but was on the keepers side.

Second half we looked tidy on the ball but again didn't create much, we started to give it away more and Raith again scored when they were back in the game. We were caught out badly at the free kick and it was annoying that we had seen the same thing just minutes earlier.

The game then got scrappy with a few meaty challenges. I actually thought Hilson was lucky not to be sent off for his foul as it was dangerous.

Last 5 minutes we pushed more and were unlucky with a cross that was superbly defended at the back post and a great block from the keeper when Bain snuck around the back but just couldn't get passed him.

Overall I think although we played some nice stuff there were times we could have went at them more and although we had more of the ball Raith were more dangerous with it.

Still, we're in the tie and although Raith are favourites I don't see why we can't get back into it.

Was going to write something on the game but this pretty much matches my thoughts. 

Not much between the teams, definitely all to play for on Saturday.

[Ymscorer]

Keeper going to cost us again Sat.

[HIT THE CHANNEL]

Hmmm... both sides will be relatively happy with the result. With our away form however I would have liked another goal and have a feeling a one goal advantage might not be enough...

The win should see a decent following up on Saturday now. 

Hope for once the pessimism is misplaced and we can finish it off. 

Oh and that goalkeeping. Jesus fucking Christ 

[basher brash]

28 minutes ago, loon00 said:

Very good game to watch. Surprised Raith only escaped with 2 yellows as they were at it the whole game, frustrating to see at times. Disappointed to come away with nothing but at least it’s still all to play for.

Likewise Forfar were lucky not to have had a player red carded , don’t know who it was but the Forfar player kicked Gillespie in the back of the leg after the ball was played yet Gillespie gets booked for reacting to it , likewise I thought  Hilson was fortunate after a terrible tackle. As for the actual game Forfar were given to much respect , space and time on the ball and I thought we scored against the run of play first half with a great assist from Lyness with some poor goalkeeping however it was still a great bit of quality from Baird. Rovers midfield was none existent especially Barjonas who put in a shocking performance along with Wedderburn but on the whole another poor team performance in my opinion which is why we are where we are and must definitely have to improve on Saturday if are to progress 

[Hank Scorpio]

Sort of enjoyed that, strange game. Really quite underwhelmed by the attendance. To only get 1700 home fans is quite a rubbish effort even for a Tuesday night. Only about 400 up on a usual home game. Forfar travelled in good numbers and I’m sure they’ll feel as though they’re well in the tie.

Really quite a strange formation and it took us about 65 minutes to get to grips with it. That 5-3-2/3-5-2 only really works when 1) we have two natural wing backs and 2) at least 2 of the midfield 3 have good legs and are able to get forward to support. Crane had his best game in fucking ages and McKay did his best but he’s never a wing back in a month of Sunday’s. Matthews did well enough in the middle but he’s literally doing the running for three men alongside Nat and Barjonas, the latter being absolutely reeking until he was hooked.

Gullan coming on really worked. He’s much more mobile than Buchanan and it means that we could go a bit more direct into the channels. Took his goal really well, bullet into the corner. Nisbet did what Nisbet does. Generated such power on the header from almost a standing start.

Forfar did well with the ball and were really tidy in possession without ever looking too dangerous. Baird’s goal was a beaut but interested to see if Lyness should have got a stronger hand on it. Lyness did pull off a really strong save towards the end when it looked like the boy just had to go round him so hard to be too critical.

All to play for, bring on Saturday.

[Scottydog]

2 hours ago, foreverarover said:

The floodlights lighting is utter pathetic. You would have thought the spark who is a director might have looked into that

 

 

Quite right! 

High time he got his wallet out and donated the £1/4M needed to replace the lamps and associated electrical equipment with LED lamps that we can afford to use.