Dunfermline 0 Raith Rovers 2
Saturday, 29th Aug 2009IRN BRU First Division. Dowie in for Higgins only change. Murray fires Rovers into 1-0 lead on 42. Gibson red carded in 43. 2 down afer 60 (Casalinuovo).
Raith returned just three days after their Co-operative Insurance Cup defeat at the hands of their local rivals and made one change to their starting eleven; Damien Casalinuovo, on loan from Dundee United, coming in for Graham Weir. Jim McIntyre also made the one change, preferring Andy Dowie to Chris Higgins in the centre of his defence.
Sammy`s pre match tribute was to the Johny Cash number "Walk the Line" . Scotland`s number one club mascot waving a large black and white chequered flag, patrolled the line in front of the North West Stand in tribute to Pars fan Joe Moore who came out of that stand last Saturday to take on the role of linesman after Referee Anthony Law was forced to retire through injury.
Raith kicked off into the afternoon sun and pinned the Pars back until the fifth minute when Steven Bell burst from his own half before sending a great ball out to Joe Cardle on the right. The winger crossed a diagonal ball into the six yard box from 20 yards out and Andy Kirk stuck the chance away only to look up to find out the offside flag had been raised.
The visitors had a great opportunity of their own on 11 minutes when a wayward pass landed at the feet of Darren Smith and he sent Casalinuovo in on goal but Neil McGregor covered back to send him wide and eventually chip his shot on to the roof of the net. Four minutes later a hotly disputed Raith free kick 25 yards out allowed Allan Walker to loft a ball into the back post area but Iain Williamson couldn`t reach it as it went out over his head.
On 19 minutes David McGurn was forced into serious action to tip a Graham Bayne header over the bar and Gibson`s corner from the right was also sent over the bar off the boot of Dowie.
Raith were always a danger and in 25 minutes Tade worked a route deep into the right side of the Dunfermline box to cut back for Williamson to try his luck but he dug out the shot from under him and sent it straight into Greg Fleming`s hands. At the other end a McCann cross was just too far ahead of Bell and he could only head the ball over the bar from eight yards out.
Rovers pressed with McGregor blocking a Smith run and then Dowie dealing with an up and under from Craig Wilson before Williamson could take possession of it. Fleming was out of his box to clear a Williamson boot up the park in 33 minutes. In between Dunfermline came up with a corner delivered by Gibson that McGregor left for Dowie with no success and a Cardle shot that went for a throw in on the far side.
The game had been hotly contested but when Rovers scored just three minutes from the interval things certainly boiled over. Dunfermline failed to clear properly and when Woods and Burke went for the same ball the latter presented Calum MURRAY with the chance to shoot from 25 yards out into the top right of the Pars net.
Next minute Gibson tangled with Smith midway into the Raith half down on the touchline. Both were shown yellow cards but then as Smith was being shown his, and judging by the gestures of the Raith players, the linesman appeared to have seen an elbow used by the former Killie man. Referee David Somers then showed Gibson red and despite all the protests the Pars were reduced to ten men.
The stadium was a cauldron of noise and Mr Somers not exactly popular with the Dunfermline fans as he brought the first half to a close.
Half Time: Dunfermline 0 Raith Rovers 1
The second half was going to be hard for the Pars and Raith had an early chance when Casalinuovo raced on to a through ball to win only a corner. The Pars survived that but only after Ellis had missed an overhead kick in the centre of the box. A 55th minute free kick was fired over the crossbar by Kirk as the referee continued to attract the wrath of the home fans.
Rain began pelting down but this did nothing to dampen the fervour both on and off the park. On the hour a roar went up to welcome a Pars corner on the right and Bayne saw his fine header from Cardle`s cross saved on the line. Instead of going level the Pars found themselves two down as Raith struck on the counter. Smith squared the ball from the left and CASALINUOVO headed past Fleming from six yards.
Nick Phinn was introduced at Alex Burke`s expense and then in 67 minutes Cardle made an opening on the right and he picked out Kirk for a shot that was saved but broke left. A good old fashioned goalmouth stramash ensued and Phinn`s follow up was somehow kept out as well. McDougall replaced Bayne and while Tade sent a good chance wide left when through on Fleming, Dunfermline were coming as close with Phinn testing McGurn.
Dunfermline pushed for a goal with everyone bar Fleming in the Raith half and no matter what they tried McGurn always seemed to come out on top. McDougall played a one two with Cardle on the 18 yard line but the keeper saved and then Woods launched a great strike from out on the right but McGurn pulled off a superb save.
At the end the 2086 Raith fans had plenty to celebrate; a victory over their local rivals, revenge for Wednesday night`s cup knock out and going joint top of the First Division with Queen of the South. The last league meeting in March 2000 was a win for the Rovers so it remains no league victory over the Kirkcaldy club since 1997. There`s always the next time.
SUBS NOT USED: Stephen Glass, Greg Paterson (GK)
YELLOW CARD: Bayne (40), Gibson (43), Woods (45+2)
RED CARD: Gibson (44)
RAITH ROVERS: David McGurn; Craig Wilson, Laurence Ellis, Mark Campbell, Douglas Hill, Grant Murray, Iain Williamson, Allan Walker, Gregory Tade (Mark Ferry 77), Damien Casalinuovo (Lee Bryce 77), Darren Smith (Robert Sloan 69).
SUBS NOT USED: Gary O`Connor (GK), Craig Wedderburn.
SCORERS: Murray (42), Casalinuovo (60)
YELLOW CARD: Murray (24), Smith (43), Casalinuovo (48), Hill (63)
REFEREE: David Somers
WEATHER: Changeable, windy 16C
ATTENDANCE 6289
NEXT MATCH: (away) First Division v Dundee
Saturday 12th September 2009, kick off 3.00pm
Views : 4,242
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Dunfermline vs Raith Rovers
Sat, 29th Aug 2009
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Preview Raith Rovers
Thursday, 27th Aug 2009We waited nine years for a Fife Derby then get two in a week. Its advantage Pars after the cup match but Saturday`s another day.
| DAFC request all fans attending this Saturday`s Fife derby against Raith Rovers to please come along early, to avoid any last minute queues at the turnstiles. |
The Rovers return for another Fife Derby just three days after losing out to a very impressive showing by Jim McIntyre`s team to inflict a 3-1 defeat over the Kirkcaldy club in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
There have been 82 league meetings between these teams. Dunfermline have won 32, Raith 21 and 29 matches have been drawn. The best result was a 6-0 win in September 1962 when George Peebles hit a hat trick, Charlie Dickson a double and Alex Edwards scored.
|
Milestones v Raith Rovers (home) | |||
|
Last League Victory |
01/01/97 |
2-0 |
SPL |
|
Last League Defeat |
18/03/00 |
0-1 |
First Div |
|
Best League Victory |
08/09/62 |
6-0 |
Div One (old) |
|
Worst League Defeat |
1927/28 |
0-4 |
Div One (old) |
In the last dozen league fixtures the Pars have won half of them, Raith three and three have ended all square. The Pars last win was in the SPL in 1997 which completed a complete whitewash over the Rovers that season. The most recent game on 18th March 2000 was a 2-0 win for the Rovers in West Fife.
Since those days Raith have struggled and have taken four seasons to get out of the Second Division but under former Hrearts coach, John McGlynn they have thrived and after the frustrations of losing out in the play offs in previous seasons, made sure this time with a convincing title-winning season in 2008-09.
| Last twelve league meetings | ||||
| 1999/2000 | ||||
| First Division | Dunfermline | 0-2 | Raith Rovers | 18/03/00 |
| First Division | Raith Rovers | 3-0 | Dunfermline | 03/01/00 |
| First Division | Dunfermline | 1-1 | Raith Rovers | 06/11/99 |
| First Division | Raith Rovers | 2-2 | Dunfermline | 18/09/99 |
| 1996/97 | ||||
| SPL | Raith Rovers | 0-1 | Dunfermline | 15/03/97 |
| SPL | Dunfermline | 2-0 | Raith Rovers | 01/01/97 |
| SPL | Raith Rovers | 1-2 | Dunfermline | 16/11/96 |
| SPL | Dunfermline | 3-1 | Raith Rovers | 28/09/96 |
| 1994/95 | ||||
| First Division | Raith Rovers | 0-0 | Dunfermline | 06/05/95 |
| First Division | Dunfermline | 0-1 | Raith Rovers | 11/01/95 |
| First Division | Raith Rovers | 2-5 | Dunfermline | 29/10/94 |
| First Division | Dunfermline | 1-0 | Raith Rovers | 27/08/94 |
How things have changed from match day one to match day four. Joint bottom after losing to Inverness Caley Thistle, the Pars go into this match sitting top of the table. Raith are just a point behind so a home win is very necessary.
| Dunfermline | Raith Rovers |
| Current League Position | |
| 1 | 3 |
| League Results | |
| LWW | DDW |
| League Points | |
| 6 | 5 |
| Goal Difference | |
| +3 | -1 |
| Home/Away Record | |
| P2, W2, D0, L1 | P2, W1, D2, L0 |
Raith are undefeated in the league this season. A draw at Palmerston Park against Queen of the South was followed by a draw at home against Dundee and last Saturday they travelled to Dingwall and took all three points away from Ross County with a 1-0 win.
Dunfermline will be looking for their third successive home win; their first such sequence since taking the scalps of Ross County, St Mirren and Partick Thistle in the autumn of last year.
| Recent Form | ||||||
| Dunfermline | Raith Rovers | |||||
| Raith Rovers (H) | W | 3-1 | Dunfermline (A) | L | 1-3 | |
| Airdrie United (H) | W | 2-0 | Ross County (A) | W | 1-0 | |
| Queen of the South (H) | L | 1-2 | Dundee (H) | D | 2-2 | |
| Morton (A) | W | 2-0 | Queen of the South (A) | D | 1-1 | |
| Inverness CT (H) | L | 0-1 | East Fife (A) | W |
3-2 | |
| Dumbarton (A) | W | 5-0 | Stirling Albion (A) | L | 1-2 | |
| Arbroath (H) | W | 2-1 | ||||
Last Time Out
Not much research required her. Wednesday night`s line ups:-
DUNFERMLINE (v Raith Rovers): Greg Fleming; Calum Woods, Neil McGregor, Chris Higgins, Austin McCann; Willie Gibson (Steven McDougall 76), Steven Bell, Alex Burke (Nick Phinn 79), Joe Cardle (Scott Muirhead 89); Andy Kirk, Graham Bayne (c).
SUBS NOT USED: Andy Dowie, Greg Paterson (GK)
RAITH ROVERS (v Dunfermline): David McGurn; Craig Wilson, Laurence Ellis, Mark Campbell, Douglas Hill, Grant Murray, Iain Williamson, Allan Walker, Gregory Tade (Robert Sloan,77), Graham Weir (Iain Davidson HT), Darren Smith (Lee Bryce 77)
SUBS NOT USED: Gary O`Connor (GK), Mark Ferry
Referee will be David Somers.
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