Raith Against The Machine

Sounds like Matthews will be the only one returning to the squad this week. You could take out Tait to restore him to the starting line up, and I think that'd be harsh. Intrigued to see how Watson's development continues with more game time. His performance on Saturday was lightyears ahead of where he was up at Cove at the start of the season.

Dan Armstrong out for 6-8 weeks with his thigh injury. Michael Miller still a few weeks away too, by the sounds of it.

Not just women.

Not at all convinced by Ross Munro, by the way.

Rovers got a bit carried away there. Gullan was caught in midfield and everyone was trying to bomb on. Really scrappy, but they all count. This one now firmly falls into "great for the neutrals".

Tait has really deserved that. He's been excellent. Proper celebration, too. Great fun, this.

I think Kieran MacDonald has delivered four balls from the left hand side. The first went straight out the park, the next two went right into the goal, and the fourth was overheadkicked wide by John Baird. Box office. As said above, our midfield is getting more time on the ball than they've had in months. Dylan Tait in particular is using the ball really well, and the Fife defence are being pulled left and right as we look for openings. As you'd expect, we don't look completely solid at the back, but having McKay and Watson in their natural positions makes all the difference in the world. Watson looks more confident than he ever has, and it was his long ball that led to the first.

See.

There's a lot of football still to play, and there's Scott Agnew's obligatory goal to fit in somewhere, but the Fife have not been at the races at all so far.

Swap MacDonald and McKay, then swap Tait and Spencer, and I think you've got it.

Three forwards and a goalkeeper on the bench, tells its own story.

Going by what was said in midweek, is it not more likely to be MacDonald at centre half with either Anderson or Dingwall at left back? I think I'd prefer Anderson in the middle, right enough. Without MacDonald out wide, you're looking at the primary outball being Hendry having to come and get the ball from the defence. It sounded like the plan was Armstrong at left back, but he's been the mystery additional injury.

No chance, both are nailed on. And in the circumstances, both should really be putting more faith in their colleagues. I don't think either scenario was worth sacrificing a man for. I imagine both sets of management would've rather accepted the risk from the developing chance over losing Benedictus/Gomis for the remainder of the game. Out of interest, who took the armband from Benedictus? That remaining Rovers squad doesn't exactly have an abundance of obvious candidates.

I've been a big proponent of Anderson at right wing back, but I'd very much prefer if it was part of a back five. Whilst I think he could manage at right back, and he's a relatively disciplined player, his positioning isn't the best. I'd be more inclined to start Watson in a back four, with Anderson as the Plan B if Watson is really struggling.

I'm more than happy to play right back, if only to give Dave McKay the opportunity to scream "Not so fucking easy, is it!?" into my face.

Agreed, on all counts. I can only assume the referee has viewed the Fordyce incident as a raking of the studs, but I think that's a very harsh view on it. It's a yellow and no more. Matthews is a much more understandable one, particularly in a game that's already had two reds. If that tackle happens in isolation ten minutes in, it's probably only a yellow. The handball in the box is pretty inconclusive from the video. It does look like he tries to bring his arms in close, but the ball almost certainly still hits them. f**k knows what Davidson was thinking. It's unreal, even for him. I think the lack of proper argument, and the checking on his opponent, tells the whole story. That's not his usual reaction to a sending off.

I don't think anyone was in any doubt that there was no point scoring from Airdrie today.

Agreed. It was crazy. So many decisions that served only to frustrate both sets of players, fans and managers. The highlights will show how many of the big decisions he got right or wrong, but the overall management of the game was dreadful.

Not sure who's suffering from the biggest headloss there, Ian Murray or David Hutton? Incredible stuff.

Neither is that. Bloody hell!

Oft. That's never a red.

Bowie looks like he's moving at half speed. He's absolutely shattered.

You'd have to assume so. We'll literally only have four available defenders at the entire club.

Well then. I'd need to see that again. It looked pretty high and wild, but not in a particularly "set out to do him" way. Clear cut handball from an Airdrie player seconds before that, too.

That goal was very reminiscent of the ones we were scoring right at the start of the season, with the fullbacks combining. McKay's overhit cross reaches MacDonald who's arriving late, and his drilled cross is deflected into the goal by Matthews.