John Baird insists the Raith Rovers strikers must take their share of the blame for the team’s poor defending in Saturday’s defeat to Livingston.
Rovers conceded four goals at home for the third time in five weeks, but Baird refused to point the finger at the defence.
“We lost soft goals and defensively it wasn’t good enough,” he said.
“But you can’t just look at the back four. The goalie has got to get better protection, and that starts from the top end of the park with the strikers.
“We need to get a balance. At the moment, we’re not defending properly as a team.”
Rovers conceded the opener after four minutes when Keaghan Jacobs floated a free-kick to the back post. Craig Sives out-jumped Dougie Hill to head past Lee Robinson, although striker Danny Mullen appeared to get the final touch as the ball crossed the line.
Rovers pushed for an equaliser, and Kevin Moon tested goalkeeper Darren Jamieson with a 20-yard piledriver that the Livi keeper pushed past the post.
Jamieson was called into action again on the half hour when Baird ran into the box to unleash a left foot shot that the keeper gathered at the second attempt.
The Livi stopper showed his quality again just before the break when he changed direction and flew across his line to get fingertips to Moon’s deflected shot.
Rovers got the equaliser two minutes after the break when Baird headed home Grant Anderson’s cross but that was the catalyst for a crazy 10 minute spell of action that ended with Rovers 3-1 behind.
Rovers shot themselves in the foot three minutes later as Joe Cardle bundled into Marc McNulty to concede a penalty. McNulty took the spot kick and found the bottom corner.
Livi quickly scored again as poor Raith marking at a corner let Callum Fordyce knock the ball down for Sives, also unmarked, to sweep home.
The penalty count was evened up in the 56th minute as Cardle was tripped by Jacobs, but Jamieson continued to defy Raith as he dived to his right to save Greig Spence’s effort.
Rovers fought hard to get back into the match.
Captain Jason Thomson threw them a lifeline in the 86th minute when he sprinted into the box to fire low into the far corner.
Baird was inches away from making it 3-3 in injury time with a 20-yard effort that hit the bar.
There was still time for Livi to ensure the points as Mark Burchill barged Reece Donaldson off the ball to tee up McNulty for a tap in.
Rovers boss Grant Murray was less than happy with his team’s defending.
“You can’t expect to win games giving away goals like that,” he said. “We’d have to score five to win, and you can’t rely on that.
“The boys are all playing for places in the Ramsdens Cup final, but at the moment we’re not getting consistency from them.”