Christian Nade admitted that Cowdenbeath felt the brunt of his frustration as he returned from injury to net a Fife derby winner.
Nade has been out of action for five weeks with a twisted ankle but the French striker made an immediate impact from the bench, picking up a booking inside a minute for an off-the-ball incident before sealing the win as Rovers came back from a goal down to claim a first league win in seven outings.
“I’ve been waiting on this for a while now so I’m really happy,” Nade said. “I was stupid for the booking but their player was clever. He tried to get me but I should have avoided it.
“I was just frustrated because I was on the bench, and we were losing.
“When I came on I just wanted to touch the ball. I didn’t want to pass the ball to anyone, I just wanted to do my own thing.”
Raith fans were chanting Nade’s name throughout the match but he understood manager Grant Murray’s decision to keep him on the bench after the team’s narrow 1-0 defeat at Tynecastle the previous week.
He said: “My ankle is fine but I don’t think I’ve got 90 minutes in my legs. We played good in the second half against Hearts second half so I understand why he started with the same guys.
“Before Hearts I trained only once on the Friday so I can understand why I didn’t play.”
Cowdenbeath were looking to extend their unbeaten run at Stark’s Park to five games but the visitors suffered four injury setbacks as Jon Robertson pulled out in the warm-up, while Calum Gallagher, Dean Brett and Craig Sutherland himself a first half replacement all failed to make it past half-time.
Despite all the upheaval it was the Championship’s bottom side who took a goal lead in to the break thanks to Kudus Oyenuga’s brilliant 35th-minute strike.
The on-loan Dundee United striker steered a composed finish past David McGurn from 18 yards after excellent set-up work by Sutherland.
Raith were booed off at half-time but they responded well in the second half albeit only after the introduction of Nade who replaced Martin Scott in the 55th minute.
Within four minutes Rovers levelled as Barrie McKay’s free-kick was only half cleared and Kevin Moon powered a low shot through a crowd from 20 yards that left keeper Robbie Thomson with no chance.
Rovers took the lead on 71 minutes as Nade stabbed home Calum Elliot’s cut-back after a good run from McKay set up the chance.
Cowdenbeath’s Thomas O’Brien hit the post with a long range effort on 80 minutes but Rovers held on to pick up only their second home league win of the season.
Visiting manager Jimmy Nicholl said: “We knew what we were faced with in the second half it was just a case of being able to handle that, and unfortunately we didn’t do it,” he said.