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Neill Collins: Raith Rovers ‘second best’ in ‘sobering’ performance as Scott Brown and Fankaty Dabo sustain injuries

The Stark's Park men were swept aside by the Bairns in 3-0 defeat.

Raith Rovers boss Neill Collins.
Raith Rovers manager Neill Collins. Image: Sammy Turner / SNS Group.

Neill Collins insisted ‘second-best’ Raith Rovers’ loss at Falkirk was as ‘sobering’ a 90 minutes as he has had in management.

The Stark’s Park side were swept aside by the league leaders in a worryingly one-sided contest as Collins confessed he expected ‘more of a fight’ from his team.

Raith slipped behind after just four minutes as Alfie Agyeman turned in a low Calvin Miller cross from the left.

Alfie Agyeman steers in the early opener for Falkirk.
Alfie Agyeman steers in the early opener for Falkirk. Image: Sammy Turner / SNS Group.

The surprise thereafter was that the Bairns failed to extend their lead before the interval.

However, they netted twice early in the second period to ensure there was no way Rovers could mount an already unlikely comeback.

Agyeman drilled beyond Kevin Dabrowski for the second in the 57th minute and Keelan Adams’ header was diverted into the net by the unfortunate Kai Montagu.

“Disappointed is an understatement,” said Collins. “From the first goal going in, I thought we were second best all over the pitch.

“Credit to Falkirk, they’re a good side, a very good side. But we made them look even better today.

‘Expected more of a fight’

“I think John [McGlynn] will be happy from his perspective. But from my perspective, there were just so many things that we need to do better.

“And getting in at half time at 1-0, we were fortunate.

“They’re a team that you don’t want to be behind to at home for them.

“I still expected us to put up more of a fight, give them more problems. And we just didn’t do that.

“So, very sobering, I think, is a good word.

Raith Rovers captain Scott Brown sits on the turf before leaving the pitch with an injury.
Scott Brown’s injury will be a concern for Raith Rovers. Image: Sammy Turner / SNS Group.

“I don’t know if in my time as a coach, I’ve had a 90 minutes quite like that one.”

Raith slipped to eighth in the table and were overtaken by rivals Dunfermline who they host next Saturday.

“Honestly, right now, I’m not really considering who we’ve got next week,” added Collins when asked about bouncing back in the Fife derby. “I’m more considering about what we did today.

“It’s certainly an opportunity for us to try and repay the fans that turned up, in terms of a derby win.

“But, as I say, we’ll need to be vastly better than we were today.”

Brown and Dabo injuries

Meanwhile, Rovers’ cause was not helped by the departure through injury of skipper Scott Brown after just 25 minutes and Fankaty Dabo only three minutes later.

“As you can imagine, it’s far too early to tell,” said Collins when asked for a prognosis. “They’re injured, so we’ll need to assess that.

“Fankaty was his hamstring and Scott was his calf.”

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