Raith Rovers 🔵⚪️ [3] Vs [3] Partick Thistle 🔴🟡 [Rovers progress on penalties]

[RAITHROVERS84]

Just now, par-adise said:

These playoffs have been class so far. Thank you to Partick, Airdrie and the Wee Team. Champions league, EPL etc - not interested, thanks. 

Looking forward to Friday. Not so much looking forward to St Johnstone ultimately shitfesting a 1-0 aggregate win in the final. 

Thought the PT / Airdrie quarters were two really good games and the same last night. Really pleasing that anybody watching can see there’s some quality in the Championship and neat football played.

Whoever comes through would have a terrific shot at promotion. If Ross County win tonight I think St Johnstone are there to be got at. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

We’re definitely capable of beating Rovers. I mean, for all that we were second best for most last night, we had plenty of chances even in the bit where we weren’t playing well. While you’d say that Dabrowski only made saves you’d expect him to make last night, there’s definitely keepers at this level (including at least two in our squad) who would probably concede some of those efforts.

An early goal or something daft from a Rovers player and it’s all to play for. 

[I Clavdivs]

"Tired ,leggy,lack of depth of pool"....you name it we were it in first half and Raith should have been home and hosed .However,once we made the first subs and got our shape right I don't think Mitchel had anything to do(perhaps for all of second half)and we looked the most likely to take the leg .Were it not for Dabrowski we'd be looking at a very different score today so tie very definitely still on .

Belief will be a big factor on Friday as well as getting the first psychologically important first goal .

[AllanJM]

First half last night I thought we were excellent in spells.  Had Thistle chasing shadows in midfield and Matthews made a real difference overlapping on the right.

If Vaughan's shot at the start of the second half had just curled a bit more to make it 3-0 I think that would've deflated Thistle and we could've gone on to get a couple more and kill the tie off.

Thistle's improvement in the second half was pretty impressive considering how leggy they looked in the first.  They're a decent team though and were always going to have a spell of pressure while the game was still relatively close (a 2-0 lead is always really nervy).

Looking at the two benches, you would've expected our subs to make more of a difference but I thought they all struggled to get into the game (other than Corr who looked good again).

Overall, I genuinely would've been happy with a draw last night if I'd been offered it before kick off so absolutely delighted to get back to Stark's on Friday with a lead.

[jagsfan57]

1 hour ago, Nightmare said:

5497

Raith brought very similar numbers to Airdrie by the looks of things. I get that it was a Tuesday instead of a Friday night, but I’m still surprised we lost 1k home fans from the previous game.

It was a lot quieter when I arrived about the same time as Friday, but I felt that by kickoff the place was much busier. Have they counted the Raith fans ?

[Sonam]

The quality particularly from Raith in that 1st half will strike absolute fear into Saints/County!

Whether they have the athletic fitness by the time they reach the play off final is another question like we saw in last years County comeback very late in the 2nd leg.

[Chapelhall chap]

10 hours ago, pub car king said:

Smith is a strange one sometimes he's absolutely on fire other times we bring him on and he's totally ineffective 

I always found his best position to be on the left but you're right in him being a wee bit inconsistent. Maybe you've got too many forwards as Ian Murray likes tinkering with line ups. Will watch with interest on Friday. 

[Jacksgranda]

27 minutes ago, RAITHROVERS84 said:

Thought the PT / Airdrie quarters were two really good games and the same last night. Really pleasing that anybody watching can see there’s some quality in the Championship and neat football played.

Whoever comes through would have a terrific shot at promotion. If Ross County win tonight I think St Johnstone are there to be got at. 

 

So did I, and I enjoyed last night's match too.

Looking forward to the second leg.

[CALDERON]

Thought we were excellent for an hour, but Particks subs changed the game.  Conversely,  really dissapointed with ours.

All to play for on Friday.  If the larger squad is ever going to pay off, it has to be now, but I'm a wee bit deflated by how poor we looked as the 2nd half went on.

Just hope Murray doesn't try and overthink it and change too much from last night.

[Kuma Power]

I may well be overthinking this, but on reflection I am not sure everyone on our bench was 100% fit. Hamilton, Easton and Mullin are all players you might expect to see come on if we're looking to keep up our intensity and see out a game, and yet we saw none of them. I do also feel for Callum Smith, almost every time he comes on the pitch he's asked to do something different and last night he was sent on to play down the right.

A couple of positives from the second half for me:

(a) there have been a fair few occasions this season when we've conceded from 2-0 up and promptly crumbled to dust, so it was pleasing to be able to hold on and get the win by hook or by crook;

(b) a real shame to see Watson break down again, but the fact we chose to put Corr on instead of dropping Scott Brown into defence is a sign that Murray trusts Corr a bit more now and/or realises the importance of Brown to the midfield. This bodes well for next season if Corr does indeed stay on.

[Brashy's Boots]

15 minutes ago, Kuma Power said:

I may well be overthinking this, but on reflection I am not sure everyone on our bench was 100% fit. Hamilton, Easton and Mullin are all players you might expect to see come on if we're looking to keep up our intensity and see out a game, and yet we saw none of them. I do also feel for Callum Smith, almost every time he comes on the pitch he's asked to do something different and last night he was sent on to play down the right.

A couple of positives from the second half for me:

(a) there have been a fair few occasions this season when we've conceded from 2-0 up and promptly crumbled to dust, so it was pleasing to be able to hold on and get the win by hook or by crook;

(b) a real shame to see Watson break down again, but the fact we chose to put Corr on instead of dropping Scott Brown into defence is a sign that Murray trusts Corr a bit more now and/or realises the importance of Brown to the midfield. This bodes well for next season if Corr does indeed stay on.

I wondered if IM might be keeping them back to play an entirely different game on Friday. Hamilton for Vaughan, Mullin for Connolly, Easton for Turner. Still leaves you with 3 good subs. Also disrupts the arse out of the team, but you know how IM likes to tinker with a lineup (ooer missus).

[SerieA]

3 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I wondered if IM might be keeping them back to play an entirely different game on Friday. Hamilton for Vaughan, Mullin for Connolly, Easton for Turner. Still leaves you with 3 good subs. Also disrupts the arse out of the team, but you know how IM likes to tinker with a lineup (ooer missus).

We were a much better team when we worked it into Stanton or Vaughan last night. Rudden came on an everything was long and aimless. I’m close to starting with Vaughan and Stanton again to be honest even though I just said in the other thread Hamilton will come in. I’ll leave it up to Murray.

[BigMadMental]

7 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I wondered if IM might be keeping them back to play an entirely different game on Friday. Hamilton for Vaughan, Mullin for Connolly, Easton for Turner. Still leaves you with 3 good subs. Also disrupts the arse out of the team, but you know how IM likes to tinker with a lineup (ooer missus).

Turner was one of your standouts last night in the first half. He reacted well to being first of all kicked about and also dealing with some boo boys. 
 

[Brashy's Boots]

4 minutes ago, BigMadMental said:

Turner was one of your standouts last night in the first half. He reacted well to being first of all kicked about and also dealing with some boo boys. 
 

Agreed. Last few games he's really shown to be the player I thought we were getting. Hope he stays. 

I wasn't advocating the change I described, merely speculating on IMs thought process.

[jagsfan57]

I felt that both your goals came when we were having a wee bit of pressure. The first was from a really poor clearing header from McBeth and the 2nd was a break. Two fine finishes mind. I didn’t think we were bad in the 1st half, just not good enough. Your keeper made 2 or 3 important saves, whereas Mitchell didn’t have any to make. Not sure if he could have done anything with the goals.

[Double Jack D]

Thought some of our football in the first hour was brilliant and we were well in control of the game. Up until that point, on top of the two goals we also had probably the next 3 closest opportunities to score (Connollys failure to square, Turners effort and Vaughans one that was inches away). Thistle's goal was both fortunate and very good improvisation at the same time. The touch is excellent however if he doesn't slip then I think we defend that all day long.

Once it goes to 2-1 Thistles tails are up and we are definitely all about preserving the goal advantage. We rode our luck a wee bit but there was no saves Dabrowski had to make that you wouldn't expect him to, or gilt edged chances missed. I thought we were relatively comfortable seeing it out. I would say that our subs definitely made us weaker. Smith and Corr for Connolly and Watson was OK but Mcgill and Rudden for Vaughan and Brown was a significant downgrade on the night. Virtually nothing stuck with Rudden and he kept getting caught offside or giving away daft fouls. I suspect the benefits of those two subs may well be felt on Friday evening (and hopefully beyond) though as keeps two of our more effective players fresher.

In summary, I thought overall we defended better than Thistle, our midfield was better than Thistle and we were more clinical up front. Starting at home with a goal start, and if the guys on the bench are all fit and were just being rested, then I think we are in a really strong position for Friday.

It's ours to lose.

[Claudia Gentile]

A positive from Thistle were the substitutions. We thought we didn't have much impact from the bench but the first four that came on all made a difference and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least two of them start on Friday.

They seemed to have a lot more energy than the lads they replaced too.

Bottom line there is only one goal in it at halftime and all to play for on Friday.

[IR1970]

4 hours ago, Bob Belcher said:

Not sure how Stanway seems to be escaping the same ire as Neilson from last night. He always looks "busy" but I think is miles off the level needed to be starting a team expected to challenge in this league. 

I'd be starting Banzo for sure on Friday and then one of Alston/McInroy in the middle with Ngwenya on the left. 

 

Got to agree. I thought he hid most of the game. Never showed for the ball. And couldn't make a tackle after being booked.

[mrpaddyx]

The difference on Friday could be that 2 of our best attackers , Hamilton and Easton didn’t play at all last night. I’d expect both to involved in the 2nd leg. 

[RandomGuy.]

3 hours ago, RAITHROVERS84 said:

Whoever comes through would have a terrific shot at promotion. If Ross County win tonight I think St Johnstone are there to be got at. 

 

It's a funny kind of quirk, but we have a chunk of players who allow us to play our best way...

Gallacher - Only left back

Sprangler - Only holding midfielder

Jaiyesimi - One of our Only 2 natural wingers

... who'll be back playing exactly in time for any play off game. If we play like we did for 60 minutes v Livingston, with a stronger squad, I'll be relatively confident we can get through. Our attacking options are fairly strong and the midfield is much better with Sprangler in there.