Raith Against The Machine

MacDonald looks like he's playing within himself, I don't know if he's still struggling with the knock he picked up late against Thistle. I'm a broken record on this, but with McKay on the other side, we rely on MacDonald heavily. If he's not firing, neither is the rest of the team, and that's how it's been. A lot of Davo and Bene standing with the ball at their feet, looking at an incredibly congested midfield and short on options. Hopefully we've (figuratively and a wee bit literally) weathered the storm there. The first half hour was abysmal, but we started to threaten slightly at the back end of the half. If things can keep on trending in that direction, and Hendry or Tait can get a wee bit of luck, there's no reason why we can't get the win.

Rovers have finally woken up. In quick succession Lang has lost out on a header to MacLean and then been lucky to avoid a booking for bringing down Hendry. He'd looked invincible before that. MacLean hammered an effort just narrowly wide from the freekick, too.

Lang has been excellent so far. Hasn't lost a header and he's bossing Bowie. 32 minutes before the Rovers first chance. Baird put a shot narrowly wide after the Rovers finally put some passes together in Clyde's half. All came from Matthews digging in and turning the ball over, so the Rovers finally had Clyde facing their own goal for a few moments.

Clyde finding a lot of space now, running from deep. The wind is getting up, but it's mostly blowing across the park. The Rovers haven't really found a rhythm at all yet. McKay and Tait in particular have been very wasteful, removing any opportunity to build momentum.

Clyde started better, but retreated a little after the first ten minutes. Rovers struggling for ideas to break through two solid lines. Clyde, as you'd expect with Goodwillie, look dangerous on the break, and they look content to soak up the pressure and play on the counter. It's working so far, Mitchell hasn't had to do anything more than take a couple of goal kicks.

Shooting the right way, for a change. Nothing can possiblye go wrong.

For fu... He did well second half against Thistle, but Miller has been so much more effective. In a game where we should (respectfully) expect to be going forwards more than backwards, it feels like an odd choice. Miller could conceivably be carrying a knock, but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

In other, less tedious news, Jamie Gullan has scored four goals this afternoon against Huddersfield Reserves. It's half time.

28 October 2000. Just the 19 games since then. Two draws.

Jamie Barjonas will fit into that Thistle side *perfectly*.

McKay was much improved second half. Made some really vital interceptions and relieved the pressure a couple of times. Absolute stick on that Cardle would get us at least once. You know what, though? I bloody love John McGlynn. He's made following Raith Rovers fun again. He builds teams that you just want to watch. And not just the ball players like Hendry, he just seems to squeeze passion out of everyone. And while it sounds like the Young Team (to use a loose, catch-all term) might've had a couple of incidents again tonight, a huge amount of credit has to go to them too. The decision to take the bottom of the stand was a great one, and the pit at the end looked and sounded quality.

That was fun.

Is that Cardle cutting inside? I'm shocked and, more to the point, appalled.

There goes our only left back. Why can't we just have nice things?

Tade-esque celebration putting the icing on the cake of that one. Regan Hendry fucking loves the Rovers.

That was some pass to play Bowie in, but oh man. What a miss! How are we not two or three goals clear here!?

Caught a replay of the goal. Scott Fox trying to go round the front of Bairdy is a wild decision. Good, open game, but Cardle has had the beating of Dave McKay every time he's gone up against him. Not going to keep on getting away with that. There's more goals in this game for the Rovers too, though. Nothing came of it, but there was a moment in that half when Baird went past O'Ware as he turned like the Torrey Canyon. When our static front line of two auld boys and a stecky 17 year old is making your defence look immobile, you're in trouble.

How is a team with Joe Cardle and (latterly, I know) Brian Graham bottom of the Championship?

Very decent turnout in the away end. Should be a good atmosphere as long as Thistle don't take an early lead.

I hope this doesn't scupper the Young Team's plans. They'd obviously put a bit of effort into being organised, and I was looking forward to seeing the result.

Are you trying to suggest that was a good thing?

Would've been better off splitting the points and letting everyone stay in the hoose, for all the football that was played. The very last touch of the ball was Regan Hendry being slipped into the channel inside the box, but the ball bobbled off the pitch and his cutback ended up chipped onto the terrace. Sums the game up, really. Stranraer coped with the wind better in the second half, but it was definitely a "coped with" rather than "took advantage of". The Rovers never really threatened after half time, beyond a few crosses that the wind took the sting out of. For whatever reason, all go the "havoc" happened in front of Thomson's goal. A point was definitely a fair reflection of the game. Without the wind, I think the Rovers still would've struggled on that pitch. Hendry in particular never seemed to get comfortable with his passing. I don't think anyone shooting for this league title could be particularly happy with a point from two games at the home of the team that's (currently) bottom of the league, but all things considered, that's a good point today.

Dingwall has just pulled a ball out of the sky, in 50mph wind, and killed it dead on his toes. And then driven a crossfield pass right out of play, never within 30 yards of another yellow jersey. Oh, Tony.

It's a total lottery. Both sides are getting chances. Bene has just had a volley go wide at the back post because a defender couldn't get a solid header on Armstrong's freekick. But Stranraer have had a couple of really good chances from set pieces of their own. Thomson made one excellent point blank save from a second ball. The pitch makes playing on the ground incredibly difficult, but the wind makes anything else completely unpredictable. There's another goal in this one, but it'll probably be someone putting into their own net.

The wind is really lifting now. That's three or four efforts in the last couple of minutes that have gone straight out of play. Ref must at least be starting to ask himself the question...