Raith Rovers vs. Alloa Athletic

[roverthemoon]

Not pretty, but good win. Well done Rovers for that second half. 

[Hank Scorpio]

That will do. Delighted with the persistence of the side in the second half. Didn’t panic (like us idiots) and kept plugging away and doing the right things.

[Wee wasp]

The 3 goals have ben gifted to raith with slackness of  play. 

[Michael W]

I am at a loss as to why that pen was given. Great save from Macdonald though. 

[Sixtyten]

The better side won in the end. We're an absolute stick on for 10th now.

[grumswall]

What a comeback, don’t know what McGlynn told them in that dressing room. But Dammmn....

Probably to be more direct. We've struggled badly the past couple of games by not being direct.

[Magic Hat]

First the positive Raith TV was excellent quality and well worth the £12, really enjoyed the Greig Spence interview, well done guys and you have a good exciting team to watch for the rest of the season. 

Now for the negative, thought we played okay for about 70 minutes but Grant's habit of not changing either the starting line up or making subs has come back to haunt us. For me he should walk, we are going down whether he stays or goes. 

 

 

[Wardy]

[Waspie]

Frustrating to some extent as Raith's first goal was rather scrappy and came at  a time when they looked to be running out of ideas. But over the piece we didn't deserve anything out of that game. Pissed off at Grant that after our best display in weeks last Saturday that he has moved one of the key men in that performance out of centre midfield and to a wide position where he isn't anywhere near as influential or effective. Despite that we still led for long spells on Tuesday and today. Had we stuck to what looked so promising last week then these two games were there to be won. As it stands we are heading for League One. Hetherington to CM came far too late today and that's on the manager.

I thought Raith were decent there today. Stuck at it when things weren't going for them and ultimately took advantage. More impressive than in the 5-2 game where despite talk of scuddings etc it was actually a pretty evenly matched contest until the very end. Today Raith were clearly better than us. 

 

[Wee wasp]

2 minutes ago, Magic Hat said:

First the positive Raith TV was excellent quality and well worth the £12, really enjoyed the Greig Spence interview, well done guys and you have a good exciting team to watch for the rest of the season. 

Now for the negative, thought we played okay for about 70 minutes but Grant's habit of not changing either the starting line up or making subs has come back to haunt us. For me he should walk, we are going down whether he stays or goes. 

 

 

Persisting with ray grant in the middle of the park with hetherington out wde is gonna cost him in more ways than one, grant brings nothing to the team. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Looking at the 90 minutes as a whole, it's hard to argue Alloa deserved anything from the game. Whilst they defended well for the most part, they really didn't offer much in the way of attacking intent. 

Even with that, though, the Rovers are capable of beating themselves. It's exactly what happened at the Queens game (albeit Queens form since has made that result look nowhere near as bad in hindsight). It was pleasing today to see them keep on plugging away and, as Hank says, keep doing the right thing. It would've been easy to start shelling the ball at Duku, but they let Alloa sit deeper and tighter and brought Tumilty and MacDonald into the attack. 

I think they'll take more confidence from that than they would if, for example, they'd just won the game 2-0. After last week's struggle to do... anything, really... against an obstinate opponent, it's a big result to turn that around today. 

It'll be a very different game on Friday, and one that'll be really interesting. Both sides seem inconsistent at best and schizophrenic at worst. 

[renton]

1 minute ago, Waspie said:

Frustrating to some extent as Raith's first goal was rather scrappy and came at  a time when they looked to be running out of ideas. But over the piece we didn't deserve anything out of that game. Pissed off at Grant that after our best display in weeks last Saturday that he has moved one of the key men in that performance out of centre midfield and to a wide position where he isn't anywhere near as influential or effective. Despite that we still led for long spells on Tuesday and today. Had we stuck to what looked so promising last week then these two games were there to be won. As it stands we are heading for League One. Hetherington to CM came far too late today and that's on the manager.

I thought Raith were decent there today. Stuck at it when things weren't going for them and ultimately took advantage. More impressive than in the 5-2 game where despite talk of scuddings etc it was actually a pretty evenly matched contest until the very end. Today Raith were clearly better than us. 

 

I dunno, we certainly enjoyed a lot more possession and build up, but for large spells we lacked Any quality in our crossing, and we have a certain amount of baked in brittleness at the back which always leaves Rovers fans fearing the worst.

As you say, equaliser came at a point where we looked short on ideas and Davo really dug us out a hole. Alloa didn't seem to have much of a game plan after that for getting back in front.

[Broken Algorithms]

Delighted with that result. After their goal Alloa did very little while we gradually grew in confidence. Players like Armstrong and Hendry went from being on the fringes of the game to stepping up and taking control. Kieran MacDonald deserves a lot of credit for winning the ball in midfield out of nothing and threading through that ball for Hendry. Excellent for Gullan to get off the mark too. I feel like our extended stint in league one taught us how to handle games like that more efficiently. A few seasons ago we'd have got frustrated and the game would've fizzled out. Back to second place albeit that centre half pairing in the derby gives me the fear. 

[Barneyw]

Frustrating to some extent as Raith's first goal was rather scrappy and came at  a time when they looked to be running out of ideas. But over the piece we didn't deserve anything out of that game. Pissed off at Grant that after our best display in weeks last Saturday that he has moved one of the key men in that performance out of centre midfield and to a wide position where he isn't anywhere near as influential or effective. Despite that we still led for long spells on Tuesday and today. Had we stuck to what looked so promising last week then these two games were there to be won. As it stands we are heading for League One. Hetherington to CM came far too late today and that's on the manager.
I thought Raith were decent there today. Stuck at it when things weren't going for them and ultimately took advantage. More impressive than in the 5-2 game where despite talk of scuddings etc it was actually a pretty evenly matched contest until the very end. Today Raith were clearly better than us. 
 

Even when we were in front today there was a feeling that we were never quite in control - although neither were Raith - and I think it was obvious that Hetherington being stuck out wide was the reason for that. Grant just doesn’t have the same ability to grab hold of the ball and drive us forward.
Really frustrating that we didn’t change it somehow in the middle of second half, considering we’d hardly kicked it since half time and Raith had taken control.
Sick and tired of watching us come undone in the same manner every week.

[CALDERON]

Alloa defended really well for large parts of the game, but I was really surprised to hear the commentators say it wasn't a 3-1 game. We absolutely dominated that 2nd half and were probably the better team in the first, albeit with a lack of quality in the first period. 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by CALDERON

[grumswall]

Delighted with that result. After their goal Alloa did very little while we gradually grew in confidence. Players like Armstrong and Hendry went from being on the fringes of the game to stepping up and taking control. Kieran MacDonald deserves a lot of credit for winning the ball in midfield out of nothing and threading through that ball for Hendry. Excellent for Gullan to get off the mark too. I feel like our extended stint in league one taught us how to handle games like that more efficiently. A few seasons ago we'd have got frustrated and the game would've fizzled out. Back to second place albeit that centre half pairing in the derby gives me the fear. 

Was sat thinking that today's game reminded me alot of our games in league 1. Alloa were well organised and we struggled to break them down but ultimately we managed to get it over the line as the game wore on.

[Sixtyten]

The Clyde fans rave about Ray Grant, so there's clearly a good player in there. It's strange that his dad seemingly has no idea how to use him effectively. We really invited Rovers onto us for the 2nd half and deserved to get beaten.

[whereismillar]

F Off Grant , take yer son with you .

 

[TxRover]

3-1 terribly unfair to Alloa, I wouldn’t have had much complaint with a draw and could have seen a loss except for a couple of pieces of some quality.

Duku is showing why he was at the level he was at. He’s a useful poacher, but not great with his head and lacks a quality first touch. He has good speed and power though, but needs a sit again.

Armstrong is a pest, and a very frustrating player for both sides, but you need someone like that. However, he need sitting a game or two.

JMac is saving us every game, what a magnificent signing.

Kennedy is going to be some player in the future.

KMac is becoming anonymous again, and once again it’s after Christmas. I’m afraid we need a new left wing back for next season, at least for the second half.

Davo should be considered as a Defensive Mid/Sweeper in front of our CB’s (Frankie and Bene/Nando and Bene/Frankie and Bene). That would negate his speed disadvantage versus the breaks and allow him to use his positional sense better. It would also allow Hendry to play higher up.

Matthews was appreciated in his return, Spencer’s game was not as good, and Tumilty was steady and offered so much more than KMac on the other wing. Bene soldiered on, but should not be a starter next year

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

50 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Always liked Davidson.

 

2 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I mean, I hate to sound like a broken record here, but how are we still persisting with Iain Davidson?