Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Raith Rovers v Queen’s Park verdict: Key moments and player ratings as Aidan Connolly’s scores brace in heavy loss

Aidan Connolly scored a number of spectacular goals last season. Image: SNS.
Aidan Connolly scored a number of spectacular goals last season. Image: SNS.

Raith Rovers were left wondering how they came away with nothing from a match they played so well in for large parts.

Ian Murray’s side were the better team at 0-0, after going ahead through a trademark Aidan Connolly curler – and then even after Queen’s Park equalised through Simon Murray’s free-kick.

Yet somehow Queen’s Park got their noses ahead just before the break through a deflected Dom Thomas strike.

Simon Murray added his second just after half-time before Jack Thomson added a fourth and Thomas scored almost exactly the same goal he had in the first half.

Simon Murray makes it 4-1.

Connolly added his and Raith’s second towards the end but it was mere consolation in a 5-2 defeat in the Scottish Championship.

Key moments

Following Connolly’s opener Ethan Ross forced a save out of Calum Ferrie while Kieran Ngwenya threatened a number of times down the left.

The key moment came just after half-time at 2-1. Raith put pressure on the visitors from kick-off and Liam Dick went close at the back post following a corner.

From that Queen’s countered and Simon Murray tapped in Josh McPake’s cross-cum-shot.

Rovers had played well in the first half and were unfortunate to be behind, within minutes of thew restart they were further behind.

Vaughan shot just wide at 3-1 and Kyle Connell had a couple of efforts after coming on but Raith were always chasing the game after the third.

Fellow second-half sub Jamie Gullan then shot just wide when he had options in the middle before Queen’s killed the game.

Raith had a number of chances later in the match but it wasn’t their day – evidence by three goal-line clearances in the same attack towards the end.

Player ratings

Raith Rovers (4-2-3-1): MacDonald 6; Millen 6, O’Riordan 6, Dick 6, Ngwenya 6; Brown 6, Spencer 6 (Connell 6); Connolly 8, Stanton 6, Ross 6 (Gullan 6); Vaughan 7. Subs: McNeil, Nolan, McBride, Coulson, Masson, Frederiksen.

Star man

Around 30 minutes into the game there would have been a number of candidates.

Connolly was excellent in the first half even aside from his spectacular strike.

He liked well with his teammates, Vaughan especially but he, like the rest of the side, struggled to find a way back into the game – even though he added his second.

Manager under the microscope

Ian Murray was without the injured Dylan Easton and dropped Kyle Connell to the bench. Ethan Ross came in on the left while Lewis Vaughan led the line in his first start since July last year.

In the build-up to the game the Rovers manager said it would be a contest of two teams that like to play football – weather permitting.

That’s exactly how it turned out but whereas Rovers looked dangerous when they broke, Queen’s enjoyed decent spells of possession without causing much danger.

That was until shortly before half-time when Owen Coyle’s side turned the game on its head – they never looked back once Murray made it 3-1.

Murray responded by bringing on Gullan, who returned for the first time from injury, and Connell but they failed to take any of their chances.

By the full-time whistle the Rovers manager was left wondering how his team hadn’t scored morew.

Man in the middle

Don Robertson had a quiet game and was only forced to produce one card, for Connell for a professional foul.

Conversation