Raith Against The Machine

NO! f**k! OFF! BLACK PLAYERS DON'T IMMEDIATELY HAVE TO BE COMPARED TO OTHER BLACK PLAYERS! FOR f**k SAKE! WE ARE NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!

Forgot to mention the highlight of the evening! Iain Davidson's red bomber jacket. As fly as they come.

For what it's worth, I think a share of the points is fair. Rovers probably edged it but penalties are penalties, so fair play to Livi. Interesting to see McGlynn roll out his second and third choice formations for this season. I suspect we'll see a lot more of the back three that finished once we get Musonda and Lang back, particularly in away games. It's a system I really like, but I'm slightly (very slightly) concerned about Liam Dick. It's really early days but he doesn't look particularly settled either defensively or going forward. Hopefully just needs a couple more games to find his rhythm. I can sort of see what Livi were going for with the long balls over the top, because there was space behind Berra and Benedictus for Anderson to get into, but Berra reads the game si well and Bene is faster than he looks, so it never really came to anything. The pressing from the Rovers in the first half was excellent and at times Livi just couldn't cope with the fluidity of the Rovers midfield and attack, but we did lack a focal point at times, which you'd expect when we're missing our only two number nines. On the right day though, playing like that against weaker opposition could rack up four of five like we did a couple of times last season. Liked what I say from BRS. His use of the ball was good if not excellent, and he provided a proper physical defensive midfield option that we didn't really have last year. Really interested to see how he develops and where his limits are. Ethon Varian didn't get a huge amount of the ball, but doesn't look shy when it comes to putting himself about. Won a couple of balls in the air against Obileye, which bodes well. He'll give smaller units a tough time.

How do you put someone in a headlock for long enough to chock [sic] the life out of them... in the air? Honestly neebur, read that post back. It's like you're describing a scene from Godzilla v King Kong. "Threw him over his head" FFS. Collum was about six feet away, throws red cards about like Donkey Kong throws barrels, and didn't bother booking either of them.

Fitzwater has just made a brilliant save low to his left. Collum looking right at it. Waves play on. Ludicrous.

Promising first ten minutes or so here. We're pressing Livi all over the place and they can't cope. Stryjek and Parkes already at each other's throats, mostly due to the former's distribution. From middle to front we're pretty fluid but I think you'd call it a narrow 4-4-2 diamond? BRS at the base, Connolly at the tip. Zanatta and Vaughan as the strikers.

Whilst the capacity is limited, is there any benefit to incentivising actual attendance? Whether you've got 1000 or 1200 or 1400 folk socially distanced and rattling around Almondvale you're not making much difference to the atmosphere. It's not like this game is going to sell out, either. The Scottish Cup game last time out with no restrictions only managed 1700 folk. Once you've got no restrictions and thing are back to normal, of course you'd much rather have people in the ground than not, but right now, failing to offer a stream at all is just another example of a Scottish football club treating its customers (both home and away) with disdain.

Well that makes sense. Presumably they're not offering a stream tonight because the media team are still doing laps of their Olympic sized pool filled with pound coins. Twenty pounds!?

Given that tickets were only ten or eleven quid, I don't see that there's any sense at all in not offering a stream. Just make it the same price. People paid more than that for streams on multiple occasions last season, and it means if someone chooses not to attend and stay at home to stream it instead, you're not losing any revenue. Real "wee club" vibes from Livingston here.

I think Davie or Niall mentioned on Friday that he had also picked up a wee knock. Either way, I'm not sure we'll see him tonight. The arrival of Varian removes the jeopardy to a fair extent. Presumably he's coming in to be the third "number 9" and he'll take that role tonight ahead of the unchanged attacking midfield three.

It astonishes me that people who post on this football website can have absolutely no idea how the wider game of football works, in even a basic sense.

Jon Daly.

What a palaver that is, just to get two tickets to a game of football. Some amount of personal data to hand over, too. Good luck to anyone trying to buy four or more. You'll be lucky to make kick off by the time you've registered all your multiple accounts.

So much for away tickets being on sale "tomorrow morning", eh? Doesn't feel promising.

I think I'm right in saying that all contracts have to run window-to-window now, so "short term deal" presumably means we've got BRS until January. Really intrigued to see how he gets on, it's a big transition from playing what looks like Sports Centre football in Spain.

I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, and I genuinely hope it doesn't, but it's what supporters from his previous clubs said had happened when he was there, and it's exactly what happened at the Rovers too.

Signings incoming As rumoured, Ethon Varian comes in on loan from Stoke. The mystery midfielder is the excellently named Blaise Riley-Snow who has made the very understandable decision to swap Alicante for Kirkcaldy. As we all would.

Thomson's saves have always been excellent. You can absolutely see why he's been able to forge a career as a full-time keeper. But I think it's also very clear that he's not got that X factor that would take him above the Scottish Championship. Defences just don't seem as settled as they should around him. With that in mind, I think it's very impressive that he's already got his coaching career to where it is. From the outside it looks like he's recognised early on that he might not be the full package. He's not going to make it to the top level as a player, but he might well do it as a coach.

Same boy that came into the midfield against Queens Park. Haven't seen any suggestions as to his true identity.

...did you not see any of his games for us...?

Agreed. I'm not sure they had a chance in that time. In fact, Boyle's just had a chance turned away by Liam Dick but other than that I think they've scored the three times they've had efforts at goal. I know we were always likely to get a chasing, but Thomson doesn't really inspire much confidence, does he?

Over 2.5 first half goals home and hosed with fifteen minutes to spare. We go again!

That jersey!

Sign him up!

Two number 5s listed. What a shambles... No Keatings is a bit of a concern ahead of the Livi game, where we won't have Poplatnik. Hopefully just a minor thing keeping him out tonight.