😺 Raith Rovers v Inverness CT 🔵 🔴

[bobbykdy]

Really should have won today, will be interested to see the replay of the equaliser but I suspect the players shouting at the linesman are going to look daft when that goes up.

Thought there was an energy about the place today, both off the pitch and on, just really really frustrating not to get the result we should have.

[R.R.FC]

2 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

I think that match really sums us up. 

Between each 18 yard box we're probably as good as anyone in the league but despite all our good football, we really struggle to carve out clearcut chances. I think other than the goals there was only the Gullan header in the first half and then the one cleared off the line in the second half.

Meanwhile we consistently give away the sort of cheap goals from set pieces that we can never score ourselves. 

Very frustrating, but still some optimism that we aren't far away from getting it right. 

Agree with all of this, we’ve definitely improved in recent games and really aren’t far away from a decent side. But we consistently have to work much harder for our goals than the opposition and it’s hard to string wins together when that’s the case.

For all the talk of our need for a striker, we’ve managed to score in each of our last 9 games but only won 3 due to throwing them in at the other end. I thought Nolan and Lang both played well today but we need to find a way to stop conceding cheap goals, particularly from set plays and start keeping clean sheets on a regular basis.

[Juanjo Nostalgia]

On 28/01/2023 at 18:11, Central Belt Caley said:

Welsh decided all he was going to do was boot the ball as far up the park as possible

Welshy has form for this. When he’s good, he’s so good but occasionally he seems to just give up on any attempt at building from the midfield. In that horror show against Partick all he did was hoof it long.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Juanjo Nostalgia
Typo

[Central Belt Caley]

16 minutes ago, Juanjo Nostalgia said:

Welshy has form for this. When he’s good, he’s so good but occasional he seems to just give up on any attempt at building from the midfield. In that horror show against Partick all he did was hoof it long.

Aye he was terrible in that game, as you say when he’s on he’s brilliant and sprays some nice passes. Was like he just couldn’t be arsed today and everything was getting an aimless punt up the park 

[Scottydog]

Poor defending for ICT's first letting Henderson get goal side, and just plain ridiculous defending for their 2nd, nobody marking their top scorer? Nobody matching the run of the man on 10 goals for the season?

Would have been an irrelevance had we just taken a greater numerical advantage in to the 2nd half, almost 70% possession and more than double the shots at and on goal. Really should have been at least 2 or 3 up.But if you don't capitalise by taking your chances and then employ Keystone Cop style defending then you get what you deserve.

Thought the ref was poor, looked from our end like a handball in the second half for a Rovers pen but not given, fair do's but I do take exception to the decision to award a free kick against Gullan, Gullan was clattered 1st by the defender then by Ridgers knee which was raised high enough to warrant a card, shocking decision.

I heard some one say it's another cut & paste display from us, I think that's what the whole season will be remembered for.

[RossBFaeDundee]

Thoroughly enjoyed the highlights, great stuff for the neutral. Have to admit I laughed at Scott Brown demanding an offside flag for the late equaliser for which he was the one playing Mckay onside. Murray ought to be furious with that goal, it's a nonsense to give it away. Also enjoyed Vaughan's clever shot for the 1st goal, completely takes everyone by surprise.

[Double Jack D]

A frustrating outcome to what was, in large parts, a very enjoyable game.

We absolutely controlled about 90% of that, looked sharp and scored 2 really good goals. I thought we did more than enough to win the game. Usually we are bemoaning our lack of cutting edge but when we finally do find some we also find some horrendous defending. 

ICT's first goal we are sleeping after half time and Dick gets caught wrong side. Good finish though.

ICT second, well where do you start? A stupid free kick conceded on the edge of the box when the striker is moving away from goal then absolutely no-one picking up the run of ICT's main striker. We weren't even playing an offside trap! Total schoolboy stuff and something we are starting to show a bit of form for at set pieces.

Other than that, Rovers fans could have very little complaints. Midfield absolutely dominated the game and the front 4 of Vaughhan, Connolly, Easton and Gullan played some lovely stuff at times. Vaughan looked back to his best.

At the back Nolan and Lang won the vast majority of their battles and Millen and Dick had solid games. Thought the general play of Brown and Spencer linking up play and mopping up in front of the back four was excellent.

The hoodoo goes on, but we really only have ourselves to blame this time.

[ICTChris]

I rewatched the goals and you have to look at the central midfield for both of Raith's goals.  The first, a fairly simple long ball through the middle is headed clear by Devine.  Maybe you could argue that he should have sent it clear but given the nature of the ball and his body position I think knocking it back into that area is a fair enough clearence, it's reasonable to expect our midfield '2' in a 4-2-3-1 to cover there.  However, both Hyde and Welsh are out of position, leaving a gap for Vaughan to pick the ball up.  It's exactly the sort of position that a player like Vaughan loves, the half space between the midfield and defence and he punished us with a clever hit, early before anyone could pressure him.  You can see the back four looking to cover the forward runs of Raith's other attackers, a very hard position for them to defend.  Hyde is a few yards back, Welsh is miles behind out of the screen when you watch on YouTube.  Poor from them.

For the second goal, Hyde has possession in the centre circle and tries a very ambitious pass, looking to hit Henderson to feet.  It's trying to slide it past two Raith players but the fullback intercepts it and immediate transitions into attack, feeding his midfielder.  Hyde then has to put pressure on the ball but completely fails to block or slow down play, he slips.  This then causes Welsh to have to come across and defend, which pulls him out of position giving space to Vaughan.  Again, our back four are faced with Raith's most dangerous player on the ball in space, in front of them with multiple players making runs at the defence.  This time Vaughan turns provider to Connolly, who takes advantage of the space for a good finish.

Mistakes in the middle from us were very costly - we were outplayed in that area the whole game really.  Allardice coming back is a huge boost.