Preview Raith Rovers

Tuesday 20t

The Pars` prize for knocking out Cowdenbeath in the First Round of the Ramsden Cup is a home tie against Raith Rovers.  Tuesday night`s cup tie will be Dunfermline`s third Fife Derby in less than a month. Cup ties between the clubs are fairly rare occurrences with just three in the last 40 years, all won by Dunfermline.  The most recent cup meeting was in the 2009-10 in the Co-operative Insurance Cup when a double from Andy Kirk contributed to a 3-1 Pars win.

In the league Dunfermline lead Raith 39 to 32 on wins and in cups the Pars advantage is 6-5.

The Ramsden Cup is the name given to what is the SFL Challenge Cup is now in its 23rd season of competition since its inauguration in 1990/91 to celebrate the centenary of the Scottish Football League.  Initially it was sponsored by DIY retailers B&Q, who also gave financial backing top the SFL, the Fair Play League and the national Schoolboys` Cup, the B&Q Centenary Cup was intended as a one off tournament but its popularity ensured that it was retained as simply the B&Q Cup.

The notion that this first season was `popular` was largely down to the fact that the semi final between Kilmarnock and Dundee drew 7,933 spectators to Rugby Park (still a record for the competition outside of a final), while the final itself (when Dundee beat Ayr United 3-2 after extra time) attracted an excellent crowd of 11,506 at Fir Park.  The reality was that the average gate of the B&Q Challenge Cup, omitting the final, was only 1664.

Dunfermline Athletic`s first involvement in the B&Q Cup was in 1992-93 with the 3-0 defeat at Arbroath marking an ignominious debut for Jackie McNamara.  The Pars reached the semi final of the competition in 1994-95 before falling to Dundee at East End Park before a crowd of 7154, a club record in the B&Q Cup.

Dunfermline met Forfar Athletic in the Challenge Cup in season 1995-96. Goals from Andy Tod and Greg Shaw saw the Pars through and immediately after that game Manager Bert Paton signed David Bingham from the Angus Club for a fee of £100,000.  That broke Forfar`s previous transfer fee record of £57,00 that Raith Rovers paid to them for Craig Brewster..

It looked like the competition had reached the end of the road when it was shelved in 1998-99 but new sponsors were found and the competition reborn as the Bells Challenge Cup in 1999-2000. The Pars returned to the competition after a four year absence and made a sharp exit, losing a first round match to Morton on penalties after drawing 2-2.

In season 2007-08 Dunfermline made the final of the Challenge Cup.  This was the Club`s sixth appearance in the competition and, despite a miserable league campaign, they repeated their cup form of 2004 - 2007 by reaching the Final. The Pars became the twentieth different club to do so, a pretty good representation of the SFL.

Against St Johnstone in the first final to be played at Dens Park, Dunfermline displayed all the defensive ineptitude that marked Stephen Kenny`s reign at the Club. In an awful opening half hour, they fell three goals behind before a change of formation heralded an unlikely come back.  Leading 3-2, the Saints looked shaky but held on to become the eleventh different club to win the cup.  The attendance of 6446, a reflection of the sense of frustration felt by the Pars supporters who had turned up in great numbers for their club`s three Hampden Park finals over the previous four years.

In 2008-09 Dunfermline defeated Stirling Albion but lost out 2-0 to Queen of the South.  The following season Queen of the South again inflicted an East End Park knock out 2-1 after a 5-0 First Round win over Dumbarton who were under the management of one, Gerry McCabe.

Last season the Ramsden Cup was a short lived affair for the Pars since Forfar Athletic knocked them out 3-2 in the First Round. This season the Pars have made it to the Second Round courtesy of a 3-1 win at Central Park, Cowdenbeath in the opening match of the 2013-14 season.

Recent Form

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Arbroath): Ryan Scully; Ross Millen (Ryan Williamson 84), Kerr Young, Callum Morris, Alex Whittle; Shaun Byrne (Jordan Moore 71), Chris Kane, Andy Geggan, Josh Falkingham (c); Ryan Wallace, Ryan Thomson (Ryan Ferguson 79).
SUBS NOT USED:  Craig Dargo, John Potter, Fayssal El Bakhtaoui, Ryan Goodfellow (GK)

RAITH ROVERS (v Cowdenbeath): David McGurn;  Jason Thomson, Dougie Hill, Callum Booth, Paul Watson, Joe Cardle, Liam Fox , Kevin Moon , Grant Anderson (Gordon Smith, 69), Calum Elliot, Greg Spence
SUBS NOT USED: Ross Laidlaw (GK), Ross Callachan, Reece Donaldson, Lewis Vaughan, Laurie Ellis, Ross Matthews.

Referee will be Greig Aitken