Scott Brown had every reason to be drained – both physically and mentally – following Raith Rovers’ remarkable rollercoaster victory over Partick Thistle on Friday night.
The skipper had turned in a man-of-the-match performance over the course of a gruelling 120 minutes, only to fear he may have cost his side a shot at promotion.
A blur of energy in midfield, he was forced – once again – to retreat into central defence towards the end of regulation time and came up with some vital interventions as time dragged on.
The former St Johnstone and Peterhead player was then entrusted with his side’s first spot-kick in the nerve-shredding penalty shoot-out.
And he admits failing to convert left him thinking he had ‘let everyone down’ and feeling sick with worry.
However, with Thistle pair Jack McMillan and Rocco Diack joining him in missing from 12 yards out, Lewis Vaughan turned the agony to ecstasy.
“It felt amazing,” he beamed. “Penalties are a lottery and when you miss you’re just praying Kev [Dabrowski, goalkeeper] gets you out of it.
“They obviously missed twice and I felt really sorry for their boys. They would have felt how I was feeling standing in that centre circle after missing.
“You feel sick to your stomach, thinking, ‘please, someone dig me out of a hole’.
“And to then win in that fashion was amazing.
‘The boys mean everything’
“I’m just so happy that we’ve got a chance to get to the Premiership.
“These boys mean everything to me, they’ve been amazing with me since I signed.
“I came in from Peterhead and they could have looked down their noses at me. But they have been incredible, I can’t speak highly enough of them.
“I just thought I had let them down.
“So, to get out of a hole and for Vaughany to score the winner was maybe a wee bit of fate.
“It’s hard to put it into words. I was so devastated and then so happy at the same time.”
Amidst the melee of the joyful pitch invasion sparked by Vaughan’s successful spot-kick, the Raith supporters serenaded Brown with chants of ‘Broony, Broony, Broony’.
It was recognition of the 29-year-old’s performance across a tie in which he scored the opening goal of the first-leg at Firhill.
To have gone from hero to villain would have been cruel on a player whose commitment and selflessness have made him popular with fans and team-mates since his arrival in 2022.
That move, from part-time football after six years with Peterhead, has reinvigorated Brown’s career.
‘It’s the dream’
The significance of all that was not lost on the one-time Bradford City youngster as he surveyed the potential enormity of Friday’s victory.
“It’s the dream to get promotion to the Premiership,” he said as Raith now prepare for a massive final against Ross County.
“This is no disrespect to Peterhead, because they were amazing for me, but to now be within two games of the Premier means so much to me.
“It would mean the world for us to get there.
“I’ll be trying my absolute all on Thursday, as I’m sure the rest of the boys will, and we’ll see where that takes us.
“You sometimes think your chance is never going to come again.
“But I stuck at it, I kept as fit as I possibly could, and I’m so thankful the gaffer took a chance on me. I’d like to think that since I’ve come here I’ve repaid him.
“I just try to do my best for him and the club every time I go out onto that pitch.
“There are so many people that didn’t take a chance on me who probably could have. But I’m so thankful to the gaffer.
“And to have these memories, the ones we have so far, I wasn’t sure I would ever have them again.”
