Raith Against The Machine

Stranraer corner flies straight into the goal... But someone was holding Robbie Thomson back. Nobody's getting to grip with the wind, which is primarily blowing across the pitch now. But it's swirling around so much the advantage changes from possession to possession. Penalty Stranraer. Looked like a dangling leg from Michael Miller, right down in the corner. Stevenson struggled to take it because the ball kept blowing off the spot, and I think it may well even have been moving as he hit it, but Thomson went the wrong way.

Huge credit to Dylan Tait for winning the loose high ball at the start of that move. Facing his own goal, he cleanly outjumped a boy a foot taller than he is to recycle possession back to Davidson.

The wind is really moving around. Andy Stirling has just absolutely done Michael Miller on the left wing, and his cross wasn't exactly driven, but the moment it left his foot the wind caught it and it flew out for a goal kick. That wee move aside, the Rovers have settled into the game. MacLean headed a great MacDonald cross wide, and that's probably been the best chance of the game.

Rovers have got the wind at their backs, but if anything, it's causing our defence more issues than anything else up til this point. Couple of crosses into the Rovers box have been cleared more by chance than by skill. In other news, Steven MacLean is wearing odd coloured boots like he's at the 2014 World Cup, and I'm very much here for it.

Expect the same as last week. 4-1-3-2. Hendry sitting. Bowie on the right of the 3 pushing on more than Matthews on the left.

What's the consensus then? Wee bit wind, wee bit rain, but nothing to put the game in doubt? Being out the house for ten hours and only seeing 37 minutes of football isn't an experience I'm desperate to repeat. Once bitten, etc.

It seems crazy to say this about a player who's been capped by Scotland, but his career really hasn't gone anywhere since he left us. He got a real "played for Rangers/abroad" bounce that took him into the national team, but since he left the Rovers in 2016, he's only started 50 club matches. Apart from an FA Cup run out in August, a couple of weeks after he signed, he hasn't kicked a ball for Sheffield Wednesday. He's only managed a place on the bench four times. He's on loan from Hamburg where he's contracted until 2022, but I'm amazed the loan with Wednesday wasn't cancelled, at his request, for somewhere he can get more game time.

To mitigate any potential travel disasters, and give themselves the best chance of winning, the Rovers could always put the team up in a hotel before the game. Just like Falkirk did before their *checks notes* 1-1 draw...

Aye, the atmosphere in the away end was quality throughout. Makes a real difference.

Mate I'm really sorry about your jacket.

There was. I could be wrong, but at the time I took the "orange" song to be directed at the Airdrie support's Donald Trump banner.

I'm sure you can have your jacket mended x

Member of the senior squad, then. I wasn't having a dig at Mendy, I was marvelling at the relative easing of our injury crisis.

He's 26 years of age.

Nice to see a full bench today. Without needing Mendy, either. Must be a good while since we've had the luxury of leaving a senior player in the stand on a matchday.

This is about it. The "30 Raith fans" were the young team who were about 50 yards away from the very small amount of bother when it started, and all ran over to see what happened, but got there too late! Mountains and molehills, it's barely worth the telling. The only person who seemed remotely bothered was one laddie who must've been about 30 year old, nearly in tears because the hood of his jacket had been torn. By his pal.

You could try, but he'd heider it out for a throw-in. My man of the match, too. Ross Matthews running him close, he really has got a phenomenal engine. Gave Airdrie not a second's peace. Good to see Armstrong back, too. Not everything came off for him today, but he's an excellent option for running at tired defences. MacLean drifted out of the game in the second half, but you can see he's a class act. Won more headers this afternoon than the rest of our strikers have all season. Came very close to a goal in the second half with a brilliant effort. Presumably he and Baird only met in the last couple of days - if their partnership develops into something more than it already was this afternoon, they'll have days where they absolutely terrorise some of the defences in this league.

Almost. Bowie is primarily playing off the right, with Tait in the middle. But as Hank says, Bowie is the first to break forward when the opportunity arises. Airdrie making two changes at half time. Petrie really swung the game doing the same last week, so fingers crossed it's not a repeat. Not sure Nat Wedderburn is the key to quelling our ultra mobile midfield, but I've been wrong before...

It's more of a 4-1-3-2. Hendry is sitting in front of the defence. He's been very disciplined so far, consistently ten or fifteen yards deeper than the midfield line of Matthews, Tait and Bowie. MacLean and Baird taking turns at being the most advanced forward.

MacLean has won three headers in Airdrie's half already. Last Rovers player to manage that...?

Pleasantly surprised to see Thomson in. He was far from a world beater last season, but I'd lost all confidence in Munro.

We weren't looking for a development fee, we were looking for a transfer fee. And we're not going to get one from a tribunal. And neither we should, in all honesty. We had him on the best contract we could get. "Stay with us if we get promoted, or leave if we don't" which was a lot better than his existing "leave regardless". It's tough to take, but it's not particularly anyone's fault. It's the price the club pays for being in League One. The clubs that should really be kicking themselves are the others in the Championship who weren't willing to stump up a bag of bibs to pip Dunfermline to the negotiating table. The "transfer fee" we were looking for was basically a payment for the avoidance of a tribunal. He was under contract, but he had a clause to leave. The tribunal is essentially a case of looking at that clause, and dismissing the case. We'll get some sort of development fee, for the year he was with us, but it'll be buttons. Won't break four figures.

I strongly suspect McGlynn will stick with the same front four as last week, with Baird up front on his own and Bowie coming off the right. Personally, I'd prefer a return to the back three and use Miller and MacDonald to provide the width instead, with two strikers. Maybe need to wait for MacLean to get up to speed before we see that.

Correct. Rather than getting two in, Hibs have one in and one out. They've only got three senior strikers, including Gullan. I'd be very surprised if we saw him back now.

I suspect you'll be laughing on the other side of your face shortly.