Raith striker John Baird hopes Saturday’s stunning win at Falkirk can help bring an end to the current uncertainty at the club.
Falkirk took the lead on nine minutes following a howler by Rovers defender Dougie Hill, who passed straight to Bairns’ forward Farid El Alagui on the edge of his own box.
To add to Hill’s woes he then slid in and deflected the Morrocan’s strike past David McGurn as he attempted to atone for his error.
Rovers’ response to going behind was indicative of a team fighting for their lives. They battled their way back into the game, and won a penalty in the 23rd minute when Graham was tugged by Kieran Duffie at the back post.
The striker shrugged off the booing from the home fans to send Michael McGovern the wrong way from the spot.
The game was then delayed for 10 minutes as El Alagui appeared to catch Laurie Ellis in the face with his boot, leaving the Raith defender with a suspected broken jaw, and earning himself a yellow card.
Raith continued to push forward after the delay and went ahead three minutes into first-half injury time when Baird chased a long McGurn kick into the corner, and then sent over a superb cross that Graham swept home from 12 yards.
Falkirk boss Stephen Pressley made a double change at the break to try to bring his team to life, and it worked as substitute Blair Alston levelled on 67 minutes, turning home El Alagui’s cross from six yards.
However, within a minute Rovers launched the ball into the Falkirk box and Baird nodded it through to Graham who hit a superb volley across McGovern into the top corner to complete a memorable hat-trick.
It was almost 4-2 to the visitors two minutes later as Jason Thomson got in behind the home defence and cut the ball back for Joe Hamill but his effort was blocked three yards out by a combination of two defenders.
On 82 minutes McGurn had to look sharp to tip-toe across his line and push a dipping Marc Millar 30-yard free-kick away from goal.
And there was a nervous final few minutes for Raith as Falkirk twice claimed for a penalty, but referee Bobby Madden was unmoved.
Raith’s victory became all the more significant at full-time when it emerged that relegation rivals Ayr United and Queen of the South had both lost.
Raith boss John McGlynn beamed: ”It’s a massive win. It’s not the easiest place to get a result from, and it becomes even more difficult when you gift a goal by a mistake early in the game.
”But I’ve got to give a lot of credit to players because they didn’t panic, played themselves back into the game and showed a lot of character.”
Baird is one of a number of players out of contract at the end of the season, and Rovers are waiting until their league status is secured before opening talks.
However, the brilliant 3-2 win at the Falkirk Stadium has put the Kirkcaldy side three points clear of the danger zone with two games remaining.
It means victory over Queen of the South at home on Saturday will virtually guarantee Rovers’ survival, due to their superior goal difference.
And Baird, who helped set up strike partner Brian Graham for a dream hat-trick, admitted the players are fighting for their future.
”I’ve not heard anything it’s been very quiet,” Baird said. ”I’m out of contract like another 400 Scottish players. Everybody just wants settled. You don’t want to go into the summer not knowing where you’re going to be playing next season.
”Hopefully, our performance today helps our club to stay in the division, and they can maybe start talking to players. As soon as we’re safe they’ve got to start. The manager is out of contract as well, so there’s a lot of uncertainty at the club, which doesn’t really help.
”It was the same at Airdrie the full team was out contract and everybody was worrying about themselves. But in last two months the players have stuck together and got results. I think we’ve been behind in six of our last seven games, and came back in five of them.
”We lost the early goal again but that didn’t change anything. We just kept going to try to win the game. We’re showing we’re a good enough side to get out of it.”
Saturday proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions for Raith followers as their team came from behind to lead at half-time, only to be pegged back at 2-2, before going on to win.
Continued…