Raith Rovers vs. Alloa Athletic

[Hank Scorpio]

If that’s a foul, i’m done with football. Doesn’t look like much in it at all.

You’d have been done with football circa ‘96 then, m9. There’s a hand in the back. It’s a soft foul, but a foul all the same.

[Raith Against The Machine]

The highlights make the Rovers' second half look a lot more fluid than it did at the time. Some really decent combinations, especially on the left hand side, and some really good chances created. 

I'm much more comfortable with it "feeling like a 3-1" now than I was at full-time. 

Agree that Parry will be disappointed with the second and third goals. For Gullan's I've got a fair bit of sympathy, because 75% of those get played across to the other striker, so he's obviously got that in his mind, but Hendry's? Really poor. He's not unsighted, it's fairly close to him and it's not particularly powerful. Hendry has made the right choice by hitting it first time, but I'm sure in his mind he was planning on it being much closer to the corner. 

I said at the time that MacDonald had fouled his man, and I'm still inclined to think that, although I can see why the referee hasn't given it. He's used one hand and hasn't put a huge amount of force into it, but the Alloa player is on the turn and that seems to be enough. I wonder if he's maybe clipped the boy's heel too, from the way he goes down. 

I think the penalty is equally soft. Are we decided on Brad Spencer as the "culprit"? Looks like he might clash toes with the striker, possibly just outside the box, but there's really not a lot in it. 

Finally, that neither Manny Duku or Gozie Ugwu appear in those highlights in any substantive sense is a wee bit of a worry. I wonder if Gullan might get a shot up front on his own on Friday. 

[Raith_Raver]

I don't think Duku did as well as McGlynn seems to think in his post match but I would still rather have him starting on Friday than Gullan.

[Lang Toun Lad]

I think I'd keep Duku too. Give him a run of a few games to get up to speed and hopefully he'll get backin to a rhythm.
It can't be good for their confidence to keep changing players either.

Also, did the commentators mentions early on that Lawrie Ellis was there on scouting duties? I'd hardly have thought that was in the spirit of having as few people as possible in the ground.

[piebob]

1 minute ago, Lang Toun Lad said:

I think I'd keep Duku too. Give him a run of a few games to get up to speed and hopefully he'll get backin to a rhythm.
It can't be good for their confidence to keep changing players either.

Also, did the commentators mentions early on that Lawrie Ellis was there on scouting duties? I'd hardly have thought that was in the spirit of having as few people as possible in the ground.

A restricted number of scouts are allowed into each game (possibly around 6, but it might be team specific). I think most teams are prioritising the teams who they are playing in the next few games, but others will also be allowed in too. 

[Broken Algorithms]

2 hours ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

The highlights make the Rovers' second half look a lot more fluid than it did at the time. Some really decent combinations, especially on the left hand side, and some really good chances created. 

I'm much more comfortable with it "feeling like a 3-1" now than I was at full-time. 

Agree that Parry will be disappointed with the second and third goals. For Gullan's I've got a fair bit of sympathy, because 75% of those get played across to the other striker, so he's obviously got that in his mind, but Hendry's? Really poor. He's not unsighted, it's fairly close to him and it's not particularly powerful. Hendry has made the right choice by hitting it first time, but I'm sure in his mind he was planning on it being much closer to the corner. 

I said at the time that MacDonald had fouled his man, and I'm still inclined to think that, although I can see why the referee hasn't given it. He's used one hand and hasn't put a huge amount of force into it, but the Alloa player is on the turn and that seems to be enough. I wonder if he's maybe clipped the boy's heel too, from the way he goes down. 

I think the penalty is equally soft. Are we decided on Brad Spencer as the "culprit"? Looks like he might clash toes with the striker, possibly just outside the box, but there's really not a lot in it. 

Finally, that neither Manny Duku or Gozie Ugwu appear in those highlights in any substantive sense is a wee bit of a worry. I wonder if Gullan might get a shot up front on his own on Friday. 

Throughout the game, I never had the sense of dread that others seemed to have that it "was going to be one of those days". We were still getting more into the final third than pretty much every recent game we've had since the Dundee match. Even in our win against Morton it was just one well taken chance. Yesterday in the first half we'd get the ball to the final 3rd and then it would fizzle out. Alloa stuck bodies behind the ball in an attempt to frustrate but it backfired completely. At no point did I feel devoid of confidence we knew where we were going - a lot of that was down to having a proper holding midfielder on the pitch in Ross Matthews. He adds a ridiculous amount to the team and for all our flair players he's often the guy who makes us tick. 

I felt Duku was a lot more animated than previous matches. It's frustrating because when we get the ball through to him on the ground, behind the defender he can cause real issues. But at points we lumped it up to him and for all his physical presence he shouldn't be used as a target man. It was good to see Gullan get off the mark though - it should do him the world of good as he's not really had any chances to score prior to this. 

f**k knows how we'll do in the derby. Ideally the conditions and performances won't anywhere close to that last one. 

 

[San Starko Rover]

Decent win we started poorly and Alloa took their chance really well, we were quite frustrating at times but the lads kept plugging away and eventually got the win which over the 90 I think we deserved. Same as last time for me the better team won but the score line was slightly flattering. Alloa look a good defensive unit and closed us down well, forcing us backwards a lot but I think they ran out of steam towards the end, the big lad up top is a handful.

Great to have the 3 points and back up to second, best of luck to Alloa for the rest of the season you might be bottom but you’re not cut adrift and you certainly don’t look a bad team. I’d say you’re far superior to Morton on the games we’ve played and you’re certainly not down yet, a couple of good results in this division and it all changes.

[Holy Marv]

Not sure what mcglynn was watching saying we were good first half, abject is the word I’d be using! That ball for the alloa goal is absolutely delightful, and great header. Thought bene had a very poor game overall and armstrong offers very little and hasn’t for a number of games now. I’d be benching him and giving Gullan a start against the pars. Felt for duku as he had next to no support first half.

second half much better, another great performance from Spencer, one of those players you don’t take much notice of but goes about his business very well. Anyone saying that’s a foul for our second goal needs their head checked, little contact and boy goes down far too easy, no danger that’s a foul.

thought Davo had a good game, but for a player of that age and experience to get dragged out of position as often as he does is baffling. Leaves us so exposed at the back but fortunately didn’t get exposed as much as we would have against hearts etc. I’m still not convinced about bene.. I think if we go with this centre half pairing against pars we will get exposed a lot.. 

[Roath Raver]

We've been including a pre-recorded interview at half-time during the home games this season. For this game it was Greig Spence, who sat down with RaithTV a few days before the game and spoke about his time at both clubs. The version during half-time was just a ten minute edit of a much longer interview (one hour). It is now up on YouTube or available as a podcast.
Podcast - Greig Spence Interview by RaithTV • A podcast on Anchor 
Video - 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Roath Raver

[Beastie Russell]

51 minutes ago, Roath Raver said:

We've been including a pre-recorded interview at half-time during the home games this season. For this game it was Greig Spence, who sat down with RaithTV a few days before the game and spoke about his time at both clubs. The version during half-time was just a ten minute edit of a much longer interview (one hour). It is now up on YouTube or available as a podcast.
Podcast - Greig Spence Interview by RaithTV • A podcast on Anchor 
Video - 

 

Enjoyed that 1000 %

[San Starko Rover]

We've been including a pre-recorded interview at half-time during the home games this season. For this game it was Greig Spence, who sat down with RaithTV a few days before the game and spoke about his time at both clubs. The version during half-time was just a ten minute edit of a much longer interview (one hour). It is now up on YouTube or available as a podcast.
Podcast - Greig Spence Interview by RaithTV • A podcast on Anchor 
Video - 
 

Spence was a really nice lad and certainly put the effort in when he played but just missed too many chances he should have taken. Great interview, he clearly enjoyed his time with both clubs. I recall him coming in the 200 club to say goodbye as he knew he was off

[Scottydog]

58 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

 

Spence was a really nice lad and certainly put the effort in when he played but just missed too many chances he should have taken. Great interview, he clearly enjoyed his time with both clubs. I recall him coming in the 200 club to say goodbye as he knew he was off

 

That was after the Alloa play-off and he was the only one that did that day, I remember he was genuinely gutted.