Raith Rovers v Airdrie Utd

[Enigma]

Starting the last match thread seemed to work out well enough for us. Airdrie handed us our only league defeat thus far but we’ll be gunning for 3 points on Saturday. I would usually expect us to go with the same starting XI but Easton being seemingly back to fitness gives us a headache in that regard.

[Wardy]

2 minutes ago, Enigma said:

Starting the last match thread seemed to work out well enough for us. Airdrie handed us our only league defeat thus far but we’ll be gunning for 3 points on Saturday. I would usually expect us to go with the same starting XI but Easton being seemingly back to fitness gives us a headache in that regard.

Aye but at least get the team that we’re playing’s name right. Or was it intentional?

[Mr November]

I think the last time I was at Starks was that game where we lost 1-0 (not that that narrows it down), Iain Davidson tried to swipe an Airdrie players head off (that probably doesn’t narrow it down either) and Murray had a heads gone and had us entirely launching long throws for the last half hour. I’ll settle for another Murray heads gone please. 

This isn’t the game you want after four games without a win. Hopefully Aiken is fit or we might struggle in midfield. I’d have Gallagher back in for Todorov and would probably drop McStravick too.

[Broken Algorithms]

Shame to see the Red Diamond's reign of terror is over...

[renton]

25 minutes ago, Mr November said:

I think the last time I was at Starks was that game where we lost 1-0 (not that that narrows it down), Iain Davidson tried to swipe an Airdrie players head off (that probably doesn’t narrow it down either) and Murray had a heads gone and had us entirely launching long throws for the last half hour. I’ll settle for another Murray heads gone please. 

This isn’t the game you want after four games without a win. Hopefully Aiken is fit or we might struggle in midfield. I’d have Gallagher back in for Todorov and would probably drop McStravick too.

Did that game not end up 10 vs 9?

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

3 minutes ago, renton said:

Did that game not end up 10 vs 9?

RESULT

Raith 1-0 Airdrieonians

HT 1 - 0 FT 1 - 0 

Ross Matthews (42)Iain Davidson (s/o 54)Ross Matthews (s/o 90)

Callum Fordyce (s/o 84)

[Mr November]

6 minutes ago, renton said:

Did that game not end up 10 vs 9?

Yeah, I can’t remember what Matthews was sent off for but Fordyce clipped Joao Victoria for a ‘tactical foul’ from behind on a counter attack. Think those sending offs were the only things that broke up half an hour of Benedictus heading long throws back out the box.

[Heid_The_Baw]

Revenge.  That is all.

[renton]

24 minutes ago, Mr November said:

Yeah, I can’t remember what Matthews was sent off for but Fordyce clipped Joao Victoria for a ‘tactical foul’ from behind on a counter attack. Think those sending offs were the only things that broke up half an hour of Benedictus heading long throws back out the box.

Ah, I remember - was one of Victoria's few appearances for us where he looked alright. 

The Davidson one was fucking egregious, even for him.

[AJ77]

41 minutes ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

RESULT

Raith 1-0 Airdrieonians

HT 1 - 0 FT 1 - 0 

Ross Matthews (42)Iain Davidson (s/o 54)Ross Matthews (s/o 90)

Callum Fordyce (s/o 84)

Ref had a nuke that game, pretty sure a Raith player saved a Calum Smith shot in the last minute as well that got ignored. Not that i'm still bitter about it...

[true_rover]

47 minutes ago, renton said:

Did that game not end up 10 vs 9?

Pretty sure it ended 9v9 as Airdrie lost a player to injury having used all their subs towards the end.

[renton]

Just now, true_rover said:

Pretty sure it ended 9v9 as Airdrie lost a player to injury having used all their subs towards the end.

Well remembered, aye it was. In fact we ended up with the man advantage for a bit, didnt we?

[RAITHROVERS84]

A win here would in relative terms to games played put us ridiculously ahead of the 5th placed team.

Wasn’t much in the away defeat to Airdrie a few weeks ago with Stanton almost scoring goal of the season. 

Airdrie play well out from the back and our pressing was useless that day. They also carry a goal threat but that seems to have dried up recently.

Even though we’ve only won our 7 games this season by a solitary goal margin I’m still utterly convinced we’re gonna give someone an absolute riding at Starks. Look at even last night, some glaring misses and could’ve been 5.

We’re carrying a worrying set of injuries so I’ll be delighted to scrape through this one too.

Edited November 1, 2023 by RAITHROVERS84

[Michael W]

It'll be a tough one. I know Airdrie aren't in good form, but they are the only team to beat us in the league this season. 

I don't think there's any scope to make any changes for this game, so it'll be the same matchday squad again unless someone else is injured. Hopefully Millen is OK to start, or else it'll be McGill thrown into another position again to cover. Not saying anyone's in dire need of being dropped to the bench or anything like that, but we have quite limited options to change the approach if we're behind/struggling within the match, or if certain players get injured. 

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

RESULT

Raith 1-0 Airdrieonians

HT 1 - 0 FT 1 - 0 

Ross Matthews (42)Iain Davidson (s/o 54)Ross Matthews (s/o 90)

Callum Fordyce (s/o 84)

Seem to remember an altercation between our then Fan of the year and a young rovers fan,  which resulted in the old bill getting involved..

 

Let's just say we had better days...

[Broken Algorithms]

Airdrie were one of the few teams to successfully nullify us in the first meeting. They pressed us high and we looked completely lost. In the videos from last night's game, our lads looked spent although it was quite a frenetic finish.

Ideally, we'll get another win and keep this run going. 

[Raithie]

Only seen Airdrie twice, the game against us then the game against QP on TV. Their style of play and tactics seemed to be exactly the same. Do Airdrie have a plan B? If they plan to stick to the same gameplan/style hopefully Murray has learnt something from the game against them a few weeks ago and how to counter this. Actually thought Airdrie looked not bad in our 1-0 defeat, seemed organised and comfortable on the ball. Fully expecting us to still be without Gullan, Watson, Hamilton, Matthews and Corr and hopefully Millen is ok. We're at home though so that's a bonus. 

[pub car king]

If we can get any kind of win out this it'll have been some shift by the players. Short of Easton coming in or McGill deputising for someone we're short on options. 

[Ro Sham Bo]

2 hours ago, Michael W said:

It'll be a tough one. I know Airdrie aren't in good form, but they are the only team to beat us in the league this season. 

I don't think there's any scope to make any changes for this game, so it'll be the same matchday squad again unless someone else is injured. Hopefully Millen is OK to start, or else it'll be McGill thrown into another position again to cover. Not saying anyone's in dire need of being dropped to the bench or anything like that, but we have quite limited options to change the approach if we're behind/struggling within the match, or if certain players get injured. 

Yeah, playing 3 games in 8 days with the same core of 13 players is not ideal.

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, Raithie said:

Only seen Airdrie twice, the game against us then the game against QP on TV. Their style of play and tactics seemed to be exactly the same. Do Airdrie have a plan B? If they plan to stick to the same gameplan/style hopefully Murray has learnt something from the game against them a few weeks ago and how to counter this. Actually thought Airdrie looked not bad in our 1-0 defeat, seemed organised and comfortable on the ball. Fully expecting us to still be without Gullan, Watson, Hamilton, Matthews and Corr and hopefully Millen is ok. We're at home though so that's a bonus. 

2 hours ago, pub car king said:

If we can get any kind of win out this it'll have been some shift by the players. Short of Easton coming in or McGill deputising for someone we're short on options. 

Millen is at least semi-competently covered by Masson or McGill, which lets us retain our shape for the match of he’s out. It would, however, leave us with Hannah as the sole defender on the bench (or perhaps with a Millen we want to rest riding the pine next to him) if we use Masson. There’s various thoughts on if Masson was partially to blame for the Airdrie goal due to an advanced challenge, and IM said as much in the post-match interview, so I’d expect Dick to move to CB is we need Brown in the middle instead of at CB, or to replace Murray or Brown if something happens. Before that would have almost demanded McGill be on the bench, but with Hannah now there, raw as he is, McGill is in the mix. Of course, McGill’s anonymous nature in the Pars game likely will also colour IM’s choices…so I’d expect a repeat of yesterdays lineup unless compelled otherwise,