Mr November

Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of him. We’ve had a few good loan players in recent years (Turner and McInroy the standouts) but he’s right up there.

Dabrowski Megwa - Gallagher - Holt - Ballantyne Sibbald - Stanton Chalmers - Wotherspoon - Fitzpatrick Moult Focused on players who've done well when I've seen them, hence not many outfielders for Raith. Kai Fotheringham and Anton Dowds unlucky to miss out and Jermaine Hylton unfortunate that I missed the 4-0 game at Gayfield or he'd likely be in.

Think that's broadly correct yeah. I think they possibly can recall them between windows but they can't play again until they're registered in the next transfer window. The Murray Johnson example @Kenny_m mentioned was presumably fine because it was within a transfer window.

Was really impressed with Hogarth every time I saw him last season. Not the biggest but he was one of the better keepers in League One and thought he’d get a loan at a higher level rather than dropping back down. One game in particular when Airdrie beat Alloa 4-0 was as dominant a game as I’ve ever seen and genuinely would have been 8 or 9 without Hogarth in goals.

Mason Hancock at around 9:20 onwards

Was meant to be an and in there. Sadly all too aware of having to watch both!

Yeah, we couldn’t beat them when 3-0 up and when they had nine men so not confident for Saturday. They could play a back three of Jim Leishman, James McPake and Sammy the Tammy and I’d still have the fear!

Was saying during the Inverness game what an upgrade Hancock and Megwa are on guys like Euan Deveney. For all the chat about our poor defence we were actually pretty solid for the last quarter last season but McCabe and Fordyce have them very well drilled this season. Obviously it’s the other end of the pitch which has been frustrating for the last few months but fair play to McCabe if he’s found a way around that. It’s quite funny that simply not playing wingers has made us much more dangerous from wide areas.

Good post, all very fair points. I wasn’t trying to say we played total football today or in any of the previous games, it was just something I was thinking about during the game today. I think most teams in this league would have Airdrie and Queen’s Park down as the two teams who like to keep possession and build from the back the most (not that that equates to better football specifically of course, I was using the term quite flippantly) and just thought it was interesting that Raith seemed to struggle to get the better of them.

Great goal from you today.

Have Raith struggled more against the ‘better footballing’ teams in the league this season? That’s obviously the third time they’ve really struggled against Airdrie and despite us playing quite differently in all three games, the general principles have been the same. I know you’ve had a couple of great comebacks against Queen’s Park too but it seems like Raith have found them an oddly tricky side too.

He was definitely more of a threat going forward today while still being imperious defensively. I thought Hancock deserved man of the match on Tuesday so that just balances it out!

Great win for us today and thoroughly deserved too. The better team throughout the game and even when Raith were on top we never lost our shape or panicked. It felt like McCabe was in control of the full game with Murray helpless to change it. I thought Raith’s best spell was the first 15 minutes of the second half. They never looked like scoring but they moved the ball well and had us pinned back a bit. Murray then deciding to make four subs (three unenforced) was a bit strange and that, combined with Euan Murray bizarrely taking about 10 years to get off the pitch killed their momentum. It was a bit like the first game at Airdrie where Murray made a load of attacking subs but without any real plan. We’ve made Easton, Mullin, Vaughan, Connolly etc look very ordinary across the three games so far. Stanton was the standout in the other games and I thought Raith really missed his drive and energy today. Millen being sent off at the end was a good laugh. Just stupidity and as someone else said, it’s exactly the kind of thing he does to other players every week.

Megwa had their number all game. One of his best performances yet. An outstanding win for us today and thoroughly deserved too. The better team throughout and even when Raith had spells on top we defended very well, held our shape and never looked in any real danger. Hard to pick out a man of the match but the full backs were excellent and Fordyce won every header. It seemed like one of those games where McCabe was in control of everything that happened. Pleased for Todorov too, I’ve always said if we can get crosses into the box he’ll be a threat and he took his goal really well today. Morton winning was a shame but there’s a good chance next week to open up more of a gap on the teams below us. What a difference from how we were feeling at half time at Hampden.

With Murray’s Airdrie teams it was more tiredness and just falling short rather than shitting the bed in a title race, with a habit of peaking in play-off semi-finals. A brilliant Kyle Turner led run during the COVID season culminating in that extra time win over Cove, only to have a load of injures and play Sean Crighton at right back in the final. Same thing the following year, brilliant run as mentioned above and then the most ridiculous comeback I’ve ever seen against Montrose, only to look jaded and out of ideas in the final. His Airdrie teams didn’t pull of as many big moments during the season as this Raith team, it was generally routine wins against lesser opposition and then struggling against the title winners, but it’ll be interesting to see if Raith can avoid the same fate should they end up 2nd.

Looks like Hibs fly out to Dubai on Tuesday 9th, so hopefully Megwa is still available for Saturday whatever happens.

Queen’s Park 1-2 Dunfermline Airdrie 1-2 Raith Rovers Ayr 2-1 Inverness Dundee United 1-0 Morton Partick Thistle 3-2 Arbroath

I agree on McStravick. He has some nice touches but feel like he can slow our play down at times and doesn’t really impact games enough yet. The left hand side of Hancock, Telfer and Frizzell moving into wider areas linked really well today. Talking of Frizzell, great to see him making his 100th appearance. It’s nice having a solid core of players who’ve hit that mark and have been a big part of our success recently with Watson doing it last month, Fordyce and Gallagher way ahead with around 175 appearances as well as McCabe and McGill not too far away.

Excellent performance from Airdrie. Solid defensively, moved the ball well and probably should have scored more from Hancock’s crosses. Hard to fault any individuals too much. Even after bringing McKay on Inverness didn’t offer too much. They’re not the worst team I’ve seen this season but didn’t really have any ideas going forward. I didn’t realise how poor a run they’re on. Having Duncan Ferguson in charge is a good laugh when it’s going well but the passion merchant shtick wears a bit thin when you’re losing games.

This time last year we had just lost 5-3 at home to Edinburgh City and were mid-table in League One. What a difference to be sitting fourth in the Championship after a great win and performance. I think McCabe deserves a lot of credit for changing shape in the last three games. It was pretty clear that the 4-3-3 wasn’t working recently. He switched to a diamond against Morton and while we didn’t ever look like scoring we did play alright and looked pretty solid defensively. We went back to a 4-3-3 at Hampden and were miles off it but seemed to click when he went to a diamond with McGregor up front and dominated the last half hour. It worked really well today too, seems to get a bit more out of our forwards, allows us to move the ball quicker and we’ve been solid defensively too. Our crosses were excellent today, something we’ve done nowhere near enough of this season, if we can keep that up the goals from open play will hopefully come. I’ve been critical of both, albeit with the caveat that our style of play hasn’t suited them at all, but diamond seems to get more out of Todorov and McGill in particular. I’d love for McGill to kick on a bit so hopefully this is the role for him. I’m warming to Todorov now we’re playing a style which suits him more and he’s much more of a wideo than I expected which is a good laugh.

Pretty much yeah. Inverness have been fine but clearly miss Wotherspoon and McKay. We’ve had plenty of the ball and have put in more crosses today than the rest of the season combined, just no one on the end of them unfortunately.

I think McCabe said Ballantyne would be out for about six weeks in the pre-match interview before the Stranraer game, so guessing the Dunfermline game at best? Ballantyne is our best all-round full back and it’ll be great having him back but we haven’t missed him as much as I feared when Megwa and Hancock are both available. Those three are probably as good as you’ll realistically get for full-back options on our budget, with Watson capable too. Having two of them unavailable is a blow though. I did notice Hibs right back got called up for the Asian Cup so could see Megwa going back for a month or so and then rejoining later on but that uncertainty wouldn’t be ideal.

Away car park is £3 I think. I guess Inverness fans will be at the far end of the main stand, so just a question of paying or walking a few minutes.

Nope. Always the chance they introduce some but was still fine last week.

I’ve seen Queen’s Park a few times this season now and Thomson has always been the standout, whether that’s at the back or in midfield. Strong, powerful, moves the ball well and a good range of passing. I’d be surprised if some bottom half teams in the league above weren’t keeping an eye on him.