THERE are some things in football that are just impossible to figure out.
How on earth did Emile Heskey earn 62 England caps? How did Greece beat the continent's best to win Euro 2004? And who at Liverpool thought paying £35m for Andy Carroll would be money well spent? To add to that list of unfathomable mysteries can be added Raith Rovers, 2013/14.
The disparity in the Kirkcaldy club's league form this season in relation to their performances in the cup makes for a curious case indeed. You have to go back three months to find the last time Raith won a league match, a 10-game unhappy sequence that has seen them slip perilously close to the relegation play-off spot of the SPFL Championship. In stark contrast stands their cup form.
In three knock-out competitions this season they have lost only once, and that a contentious League Cup defeat to Hearts on a penalty shoot-out. Raith had been leading that game only to be pegged back after their Premiership visitors were awarded what was considered a soft penalty. "We played well at Stark's Park against Hearts in the League Cup until that 'sniper' shot Jamie Hamill from the crowd - we've never found out who shot him yet," was how Turnbull Hutton, the Raith chairman, described that decision.
There have been happier outcomes in the other two cup competitions. Raith will face Rangers in the Ramsdens Cup final next month after battling their way through ties with Stirling Albion, Dunfermline, Falkirk and Annan Athletic. They have enjoyed a similarly prosperous run in the William Hill Scottish Cup, especially considering all three of their ties to date have been played away from home. If Raith had been expected to take care of East Stirlingshire in round three, then they were certainly outsiders when they played Dundee and then Hibernian.
They won both ties, a 1-0 win at Dens Park in November followed by a thrilling 3-2 victory at Easter Road last month that paved the way for this afternoon's quarter-final crack at St Johnstone. Victory will set up a frenetic finish to the season for Raith in three competitions, dreams of cup success offset by fears over their Championship status. The contrast in form is baffling even to those involved.
"We've had a few injuries this season but we had those injuries in the cup games as well so it really is hard to put your finger on it," Grant Anderson, scorer of the winning goal against Hibs, told Herald Sport.
"It's frustrating to say the least, especially given we were playing well in the league at the start of the campaign."
St Johnstone, as the Premiership side, will start the lunchtime tie as favourites but only the boldest of punters would bet the house on Tommy Wright's side given Raith's cup form this year. "You don't want to go in with the mentality that you can beat anyone as that's how you become complacent," added Anderson. "So we'll give St Johnstone the respect they deserve given they are the Premiership side.
"But given our cup form so far this season we've got a great chance of going through. Another cup run would be a real bonus."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article