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.

4 Linlithgow Rose v Raith Rovers talking points as Jamie Gullan’s goals set up Motherwell clash

Jamie Gullan's goals put Rovers in the fifth round. Image: SNS.
Jamie Gullan's goals put Rovers in the fifth round. Image: SNS.

Raith Rovers are into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup after a 2-0 win away to Linlithgow Rose at Prestonfield Stadium.

Jamie Gullan scored both goals in a match Raith dominated once they eventually got going.

Some bizarre refereeing just after half-time saw the same Gullan goal chopped off twice but that was soon forgotten when he opened the scoring minutes later.

Sixth-tier Rose went into this one in excellent form and sitting pretty at the top of the East of Scotland Premier Division.

They went into this on the back of an unbeaten run in all competitions stretching back 23 matches into August, 22 of them wins.

Rovers boss Ian Murray and assistant Colin Cameron. Image: SNS.

It was a difficult evening for Ian Murray’s side but they got the job done and are into the next round.

Players returning from injury

It was a pleasant surprise to see so many players on the Rovers bench after just two outfield players were named in the recent win over Queen’s Park.

Kieran Ngwenya, Ethan Ross and Sam Stanton all trained in the build-up for the initial scheduled date.

Saturday’s postponement gave those players a few extra days of recovery and they were all named among the substitutes.

 

Stanton replaced Lewis Vaughan in the second half, his first appearance since before Christmas, and Ngwenya was given a short run out.

With Ross Millen suspended, Adam Masson came in at right-back.

Tough first half

Linlithgow started the better side, without troubling Jamie MacDonald, before Raith settled into the game.

Even when they did there was frustration in the final third, with Lewis Vaughan almost connecting with a deflected cross and Dylan Easton’s cross-cum-shot the closest they came.

Rovers improved before the break but it was Rose who came closest when Mark Stowe showed a deft touch to set himself up for a one-on-one with MacDonald but he pulled his shot wide.

Better second half – especially Gullan

Raith thought they were ahead within minutes of the restart when Gullan sent a delightful chip over the keeper.

It was flagged offside by the assistant, even though the forward had intercepted a back pass.

The players surround the officials for Gullan’s disallowed goal. Image: SNS.

After consulting with his linesman, referee Graham Grainger bizarrely awarded the goal before changing his mind and disallowing it again.

The was no flag a few minutes after when Gullan raced on to Aidan Connolly’s pass to round Binnie – well out of his box – before passing into the net.

The forward almost doubled his tally with 10 minutes remaining but his effort cracked the post and later he was denied by an excellent one-on-one save from the keeper.

Gullan eventually got his second as the match drew to a close in an excellent second-half performance from the striker.

On to Motherwell

With Rovers recent calling for fresh investment, a money-spinning cup tie is undoubtedly welcome.

Motherwell took more than 2,000 up to Gayfield for their fourth-round win over Arbroath. and should also take a healthy support to Stark’s Park.

It will also be seen as a chance to progress. Though a few weeks yet, Saturday was Stevie Hammell’s first win in nine as Motherwell manager.

Rovers’ home form is good – the last time they lost in Kirkcaldy was the 5-2 defeat to Queen’s Park in November.

Murray’s side have won five and drawn three of their 11 home matches in the Scottish Championship.

Conversation