THERE was to be no Happy New Year for Raith Rovers as neighbours Dunfermline first-footed and promptly left with all three points.
Goals from Nicky Clark and Lee Ashcroft book-ended a pulsating encounter to earn the visitors a victory that lifted them from their pre-match ninth place to sixth in the Championship as they stretched their unbeaten run to seven games.
“I thought we thoroughly deserved it,” beamed the Dunfermline manager Allan Johnston. “In the second-half, we totally dominated it and could probably have scored another three or four with a wee bit of quality. I thought the boys were excellent.
“The league’s really tight and it’s important you put a run together, which we’ve managed to do lately. There’s still an opportunity to finish in the top-four. That’s where were aiming for. We know it’s going to be difficult, there’s a lot of quality teams in this league, but we think we’ve got the squad capable of doing it.”
Callum Morris, Dunfermline’s new signing following his release by Aberdeen, will not join the squad until next week because of a pre-arranged holiday, but Raith had two new faces in their squad: Ryan Hardie, who has returned to the club on loan from Rangers and the former Hearts attacker Ryan Stevenson who was recruited a mere two hours before kick-off. Both were second-half substitutes but could do nothing to prevent Dunfermline securing the bragging rights in Fife.
The Raith goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert produced a stunning save from Ashcroft’s 11th-minute header but from the resulting corner Dunfermline took an early lead. The excellent Kallum Higginbotham drove over the corner and Clark headed in unchallenged from eight yards out.
The goal sparked Raith to life but a frustrating sequence of just two goals from their last seven matches continued, despite spells of persistent pressure.
Clark should twice have added to Dunfermline’s lead in a second-half but he hit Cuthbert’s outstretched leg after being set up by Higginbotham’s cheeky back-heel and then screwed a shot from Michael Moffat’s flick wide of the target.
However, the second the visitors sought finally came in the 77th minute when Higginbotham’s driven cross was bundled in by Ashcroft from close range.
“The first goal’s always crucial in a derby and I think you saw that,” moaned Raith manager Gary Locke. “In the period before half-time and after half-time, I thought we were the better side but in that period you’ve got to score.”
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