Raith Rovers are into another SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final after a 4-1 win over Hamilton.
Sam Stanton opened the scoring within 10 minutes in a repeat of last season’s final.
Jack Hamilton added a second-half double just after Accies were reduced to 10 men and substitute Dario Zanatta pulled one back with around 17 minutes to go.
Dylan Easton completed the scoring in the 90th minute to put Raith into their fourth semi-final in the competition in its last four iterations
Ian Murray made four changes to the Raith side that came from behind at Queen’s Park. , while the SPFL Trust Trophy holders made one alteration to the team that demolished Stirling Albion.
Both sides came into the match on excellent form, Raith had lost one of their 19 so far, Hamilton had been defeated in just one of theirs.
Raith start positively
The changes didn’t disrupt Rovers’ momentum and they were ahead within eight minutes through Stanton, his third of the season.
One of several sharp passages of play led to the opener, with Jamie Gullan dropping deep to link before receiving the ball on the right. He crossed and the ball eventually fell for Stanton to pass beyond Ryan Fulton.
The visitors had already threatened before that when Accies defender Stephen Hendrie had to clear the ball with the back of his head from Aidan Connolly’s dangerous cross.
Rovers continued to knock the ball around well but, for all their possession, they didn’t create too many more clear-cut opportunities.
They kept Hamilton quiet though. Teenage defender Adam Masson blocked from a Jamie Barjonas strike as Accies started to come into the game after the 15-miniute mark.
There wasn’t much else of note. Euan Henderson hit the target from the edge of the box but his shot was weak and too close to Kevin Dabrowski.
Hamilton kills off Accies
One teenage defender was taken off for another at half-time when Callum Hannah replaced Masson.
All the pressure was then down Rovers’ left-hand side until they finally alleviated the pressure with a counter-attack and Lee Kilday brought down Gullan was a cynical, high foul.
The Accies defender had no complaints when referee Iain Snedden flashed the red card.
It came at a poor time for Hamilton, who had dominated the eight minutes of the second half until that point and fell further behind a few minutes later.
Another nice move saw Ross Millen slip Connolly down the right and his cross was eventually stabbed in by Hamilton whose first effort was cleared off the line.
A blink of an eye later, he’d scored again, finishing Hannah’s throw-in on the spin from distance.
It sparked a triple substitution from John Rankin and one of those, Dario Zanatta, pulled one back against his former club with a wonderful curling effort from outside the box on 73 minutes.
Hamilton failed to put further pressure on after that and Rover managed the game well before Easton put a gloss on the result with a fourth from distance in the dying minutes.
Line-up
Raith Rovers (4-1-3-2): Dabrowski 6; Millen 7, Brown 8, Masson 7 (Hannah 45′), Dick 7; Byrne 7; Connolly 8, Stanton 8 (Corr 78′), Easton 8; Hamilton 9 (Smith 78′), Gullan 8 (Mullin 86′).
Subs not used: Thomson, Vaughan.
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