Raith Against The Machine

Louis Longridge might never have played for Bayern Munich, but I'm sure he's going to offer more here than Hepburn did.

We've had the chances to get three or four, mostly thanks to Queen's Park's dogmatic insistence on playing a suicidally high line. Neither Stanton or Hamilton are lightning quick but they've been in behind again and again. The keeper has made a couple of decent saves and we've been a wee bit wasteful with a couple of chances, but if that pattern continues you'd have to think there are more goals in this for us. If we weren't already winning, I think Murray would be thinking about swapping Brown or Byrne for another pacey forward. I suspect that'll come in time anyway. Ironically, I think this would be pretty perfect for Kieran Mitchell. QP haven't been completely out of the game, and they've got the players who can cause bother, but it's been sporadic at best. There doesn't seem to be any pragmatism from them, any willingness to adapt to the game. They're going to need a very different second half to take anything.

This Queen's defence need to be at least ten yards deeper at all times. They're leaving so much space for the Rovers to continually run and cross into.

I'm not convinced that is a red card, Hamilton's got a long, long way to go for it to be a clear goalscoring opportunity, but it definitely should be. Cynical and desperate.

He hasn't been flawless but he's handled a few situations brilliantly so far. You'd never, ever guess he's only 16. Looks very assured and, importantly, very confident.

Stanton picking up where he left off last week. Involved in everything already and a brilliant cross on his weak foot for the goal. Lovely header too, particularly from a wee-er guy.

Those donner pies are the best thing to appear at Stark's Park since Kieron Bowie. A taste sensation.

Will Dom Thomas be on the right wing for Queen's? I'd love to not have him bending one right up us this afternoon.

I love the beautiful game.

Do they take card at these revamped pie stalls? I'm choking for a donner pie but I forgot to lift cash.

I think that's wild. McGill did brilliantly last week, but very much in an under the gun, needs must fashion. Proactively choosing to play without a left back is mad.

St Johnstone are trying to get shot of Callum Booth. The missing piece for our defence?

What a delightful photo.

First of all, that was good fun. Football's more enjoyable when you've got a bit of needle, and we've been to plenty derbies where we walked away with nothing. There can't be many better ways than spending a Saturday afternoon than watching a team of players you really like, led by a manager you really like, winning away in a game like that. That said, I don't think we played well. But crucially, we never, at any point, played badly. We never did anything stupid, never made silly mistakes, never got frustrated. Scott McGill personifies that perfectly. Compared against natural left backs, was that an actively good fullback performance? Not really. But for someone stuck out of position, on his bad foot? He was excellent. Did everything he had to do, recovered quickly when his first dig didn't come off, stuck to his task, kept his head up, stayed at 100% until the final whistle. I don't think it's a game where we ever had it the way we wanted it. If you spoke to Ian Murray before the game and asked him his ideal way for that game to play out, I'm sure it would involve a lot of domination in the middle of the park, controlling the ball, pulling the Pars from side to side, with Mullin and Smith driving into the box to support Jack Hamilton. Basically none of that happened. The first half was basically chaos, but we adapted well. Took a chance, rode a bit of luck, but fundamentally kept the Pars at arm's length. I think McPake will be extremely disappointed at how wasteful his team were in the wide areas. Time and again, in the first half particularly, the Pars had the Rovers scrambling with Edwards/Comrie getting forward and McCann/O'Halloran getting wide into the same areas. Far too many of those opportunities ended up with crosses into Murray and Watson, that they'll eat up all day. A couple of direct runs rather than shite crosses and I think you're causing much bigger problems. O'Halloran in particular was garbage. Didn't look like he has the fitness, ability or inclination to really cause bother. Also, I don't have a wider point on this, I just want to reiterate that Craig Wighton is absolute muck, and I refuse to acknowledge or even consider any evidence to the contrary. He's just Greig Spence without the hair transplant. League One level at best. It was so pleasing to see the Rovers just dig in and see the game out. It's not an asset you'd particularly ascribe to Murray's side, certainly not last season, but they didn't look seriously troubled today. Obviously I was shitting it every time a corner was awarded, particularly after Hamilton went off, and especially once Murray had gone too, but very few of them came close to actually being a threat. A nod to Lewis McCann's freekick that he smashed into the Norrie. In hindsight, I think that was the point that the Pars' players belief started to go. I thought Stanton was brilliant for the time he was on the park. Setting aside the goal, he was continually dragging us 20 or 30 yards up the park almost single-handedly. For all I adore Lewis Vaughan, it totally justified Murray's decision. There's no way Lewis gives you that much dig in the middle. Brown and Byrne, who both did their jobs excellently, aren't going to also get you going forward again. Stanton did that exquisitely. You put a left back into that team and it really starts to look pretty formidable. Dabrowski was excellent, really exuded confidence for the first time, and the defensive unit looks better every week as they start to gel. If we can get three games on the bounce with our actual starting back four, they should get even better. Byrne and Brown are excellent defensive midfield options, and we've got more quality attacking midfielders than Martin Hardie has restraining orders. A second out-and-out number 9 would be lovely, but Jack Hamilton continues to look really dangerous even without banging the goals in. We're not going to win the league. We'll lose plenty games this season. But when it clicks, and it did today even without a fair few things going our way, I really enjoy watching this Rovers side.

Q. Why do Raith Rovers play in yellow and blue? A. Because those are the colours winners wear.

This has been exacerbated since the goal, with the wider centre half on either side pushing on too. It should mean there are gaps for us to exploit, but it looks incredibly dangerous (without actually coming to anything so far). I agree with the earlier description of the game as harem scarem. The first half hour was just pinball across the park, which better suits the Pars with the runners they've got, versus our supposed more compact midfield. Ultimately it's to Brown and Byrne's credit that the Pars have had to go wide so often, but I'm worried about how much space they're now getting. You can't just have McGill/Smith and Millen/Mullen covering three men for another 45 minutes and not expect to, at the very least, concede some dangerous crosses. Being clinical isn't out strong suit, so it's delightful to see us score from the only half chance we really created. I fully expect the second half to start as the first half ended, with the Pars trying to dial up the pressure. We don't really have any options on the bench to shore things up further, so it's probably just a question of what happens first; the Pars getting an equaliser by hook or by crook, or us breaking away and getting a second. We have, at least, certainly got the players for that.

The Pars are getting all of the advantages of playing the back three, without having to deal with the disadvantages. Chalmers and Otoo should be having a torrid time trying to deal with our midfield three, but we're spending most of our time trying to go down the flanks, despite the lack of a left back. None of Stanton, Byrne and Brown are doing badly individually, but they're not controlling the game. Nevermind, 1-0, fucking up yees

We don't know who's going where when the wingbacks come forward. It was the same in the first game, we're totally unaccustomed to dealing with opposition back three. We've looked alright pretty much everywhere else, but we're all at sea if Comrie or Edwards push on.

That's the team I'd have gone for, I think. Very harsh on Vaughan to drop out, but Callum Smith is on excellent form and Stanton just offers so much. Certainly a lot of options to change things from the bench, which is highly unusual for us.

Q. Why do Dunfermline play in black and white? A. It reminds them of the last time they won something. Am I doing this right?

Winning laughable cup competitions > not winning laughable cup competitions.

I said before the game on Sunday that we might finally field a team of players in their natural positions, and I continue to be punished for that hubris. Our defence hasn't really looked settled at any point yet this season, and playing without a left back isn't going to help that. That it's almost certainly going to be a right footer dropping in really isn't ideal, and it'll particularly impact attempts to get forward on that side. With that in mind, it's particularly critical that Jack Hamilton starts. Without him, I think we're set for a long 90 minutes of possession around the box, but very little inside the box, and very few alternative routes to goal if our quick, short passing in the final third isn't getting through. Despite the loss of Liam Dick, I do think we're significantly stronger than we were going into the League Cup game, with the additions of Scott Brown and Shaun Byrne into the midfield. I'm not quite sure the Pars can say the same, and we should take confidence from that. If Liam Dick was available, and Jack Hamilton confirmed as fully fit, I'd be about as confident going into this derby as any in recent memory, but McPake's game plan is set for him with such a glaring hole in our back line, and we'll need a huge chunk of good fortune to keep a clean sheet. We're good enough going forward to score multiple on the right day, but with the underlying fragility I think you could really make the case for this game finishing 3-0 either way, or anything inbetween.

"Jail/Awaiting Trial"

Twelve months ago I'd have said the same thing, but last season he grew to be very good, bordering on excellent for us at times. He is, at worst, a solid Championship full back.

While McCann was undoubtedly excellent in that game, we were playing without a right back. The return of Ross Millen should mean he's got to work significantly harder to get the same time and space that he did.