Ian Murray was delighted with the second-half performance of his team, especially striker Jamie Gullan, after a 2-0 win at Linlithgow Rose in the Scottish Cup.
Gullan scored twice and could have had a few more as Rovers set up a fifth-round tie versus Motherwell at Stark’s Park.
The away side took a while to settle before taking control of the game.
They came up short in front of goal in the first half before overwhelming the East of Scotland Premier Division side after the break.
Aside from his goals Gullan hit the post and had another harshly chopped off.
“Jamie could have had four or five goals,” said the Rovers manager.
“He’s getting his confidence back. He’s hit the post with one, the goalie’s made a great save for another and he’s had that one chalked off – and he’s got two.
“If you’re getting that from your striker at any level you’ve got to be happy.”
Puzzling
Gullan thought he had Rovers ahead just after the break after he intercepted a headed backpass.
The assistant flagged for offside before referee Graham Grainger consulted with him and gave the goal.
He went back to his linesman once again before disallowing the goal.
“I don’t want to be too critical of referees and linesman, especially when they don’t have the luxury of VAR,” said Murray.
“It’s puzzling, we’re all puzzled – I think the referee and linesmen were puzzled.
“It was chopped off due to the fact the player stretched to head the ball. I’ve stretched pretty much every time I’ve headed the ball.”
“It’s just a grey area, it’s really difficult. I think maybe two or three years ago Jamie would have been offside, but he was nowhere near affecting the game.
“It was a basic defensive error. Thankfully it didn’t cost us.”
Job done
Murray said the main thing was that his side were in the next round – where they will take on Motherwell at Stark’s Park – especially after watching Darvel dump out Aberdeen the night before.
“It was very much job done,” he said.
“It was a really hard game and we’ve seen it a million times in the Scottish Cup – you come to a tight ground, with a good atmosphere against a team with nothing to lose.
“We had to stand up to it – and we did. Apart from the first five, six, seven minutes we dominated the game.
“We lacked quality in the first half but in the second half we were excellent.”
Linlithgow Rose manager Gordon Herd said Gullan was “a handful”.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t show how much of a good footballing side we are,” he added, “but Raith’s quality shone through in the second half.”
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