Raith Rovers are still “on the coattails of Dundee United”, said manager Ian Murray, after a dramatic Fife derby win on Saturday.
Sam Stanton’s 93rd-minute goal gave Rovers all three points after Dunfermline had the better of the chances.
It put Rovers back to four points behind Championship leaders United having played one game fewer.
Tensions flared either side of the full-time whistle and saw Murray booked along with Pars assistant manager Dave Mackay.
Courier Sport looks at the talking points from Saturday’s 1-0 for Raith.
Easton ‘was promised he wouldn’t play’
After the match, Rovers manager Ian Murray said Dylan Easton was named on the bench but with no intention of actually using him.
He was brought on in the X minute, was heavily involved in the winner, and in the tensions that flared up before the full-time whistle.
Easton was subbed off in injury time but angered the Pars players by taking his time to leave the field of play.
“Dylan’s been struggling. He trained on Thursday and had to pull out halfway through, which was a blow for us.
“I’ll be honest, we asked him to go sit on the bench because we’re so light in numbers, I promised him I wouldn’t use him if we didn’t need him.
“But Dylan is so enthusiastic, he was champing at the bit and then he came over once he scored to say he was sore again.
“It’s just a bang, there is nothing we can do about it. There’s just the pain element we’re trying to manage. Dylan’s not fully fit.”
Murray explains first-half change of shape
Raith started the match
“We moved Sam back in beside Shaun. We were playing with two up but we weren’t creating anything so we thought, ‘Let’s try to get a hold of the ball a bit more’.
“If you’re not going to create anything, you may as well go more solid in the centre of the park. It worked a wee bit better but we couldn’t get firing in the final third, and I give a lot of credit to Dunfermline for that.
“We kind of got sucked into their game plan, first half and they went really direct which they don’t normally do. It was a bit of a surprise and we had to deal with it.
“I’m just delighted with the three points. Delighted for the supporters, delighted for the players.”
Result but not the performance
No matter how Rovers have played this season, they have taken something from all but one league game, winning most.
With reduced numbers again – just four players were named on the bench, and one of those was told he wouldn’t be used – they ground out a result with one of their few chances.
Even then, Stanton did not appear to be in a goalscoring position when he received the ball at the edge of the Dunfermline box.
It was yet another display, already in this early stage of the season, of this side’s resilience.
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