There was no hiding Neill Collins’ disappointment, disbelief and frustration that Raith Rovers failed to land him the first victory of his Stark’s Park reign on Saturday. Despite being handed another major hurdle to overcome by conceding a controversial first-minute penalty, the Kirkcaldy side bounced back to earn themselves a deserved 3-1 lead over Hamilton Accies. A Lewis Stevenson stunner, Finlay Pollock’s debut goal and a Dylan Easton strike early in the second-half had Collins’ men in full control after the shock of Kevin O’Hara’s spot-kick.
However, on-loan St Johnstone midfielder Connor Smith gave the visitors hope, and Oli Shaw hooked in a 94th-minute leveller from a scrambled corner with almost the last kick of the ball. digs into Raith’s last-gasp draw. For the third game in a row since his appointment, Collins watched his side press the self-destruct button.
Against Ayr United in his debut match in charge, they blew a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 in the SPFL Trust Trophy. In the clash with Dunfermline, their attempts at winning a sixth consecutive Five derby never really got off the ground due to Euan Murray’s red card after just 15 minutes. And, on Saturday, they were behind instantly when they conceded a penalty after just 28 seconds.
It looked an extremely harsh call from referee Lloyd Wilson as Shaw and Kevin Dabrowski hurtled into a challenge inside the box. But, before that, Paul Hanlon had misjudged a long ball and the covering Liam Dick was short with an attempted header back to his goalkeeper. Hamilton’s second took an unfortunate deflection off Lewis Stevenson, but the dramatic injury-time equaliser from a corner was wholly preventable.
Collins ditched the three-man defence he had utilised in his first two matches and went with a back four, but – is proof all is not right at the back. Getting Euan Murray back from suspension and Callum Fordyce from injury will undoubtedly strengthen the rearguard, but individual mistakes will also have to be eradicated. When Stevenson drilled an astonishing strike into the top corner in the 15th minute, it was Raith’s first league goal from open play this season.
The second was also a thing of beauty as Easton’s superbly-weighted through ball picked out the run of Pollock. When Easton knocked in the third after Dean Lyness had flapped at an Aidan Connolly cross-cum-shot, it was a wonder why it had taken Rovers so long to find their scoring touch. Easton also twice came within a whisker of adding to the tally, Connolly was likewise only inches away from finding the top corner and Callum Smith was flagged offside when he knocked in an Easton cross.
This was more like the Raith of the opening half of last season, when goals seemed to come easily from an energetic and relentless strike-force. The loss of Lewis Vaughan to what is an undoubted blow given he was the club’s top scorer last season. But the display of was extremely encouraging and his searing pace will help with Collins’ aims to implement a ‘high press’ to win the ball back in dangerous areas.
There has been enough in attack against Ayr and Hamilton, when Rovers have had a full complement of players, to suggest they can get back to being an exciting watch. After two trying games on the road since his appointment as boss, Collins finally got to make his bow at Stark’s Park. A first victory of his tenure and the team’s first in five games should have followed.
Accies boss John Rankin freely confessed after the game that his side had not deserved to take a point and Raith should have been out of sight long before the visitors’ dramatic comeback. Less than 200 fans had travelled to Ayr for Collins’ debut match and impressions of were skewed by Murray’s early red card. Saturday was an opportunity to show more of what the new man’s Rovers will serve up this season.
On the whole, defensive lapses aside, fans would have been impressed and there are definite signs of change now he has had an opportunity to spend a couple of weeks coaching. Rubbing up Hamilton assistant Darian Mackinnon the wrong way with his goal celebrations, sparking a minor post-match dust-up, also proved Collins’ passion for the job. He will now be hopeful of gaining concrete evidence of improvements by getting that so-far elusive first win on the board.
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