There was a sense of deja vu as the public address system heralded the sponsors' man of the match as Nacho Novo, such was the regularity with which the irascible striker would claim that honour during his time at Raith Rovers.

After all, Kirkcaldy is where the Spaniard's Scottish adventure - which has gone on to take in stops at Dundee, Rangers and now Morton, while also being marked by six trophies - began, after he was plucked from Huesca, a provincial side in his homeland, in 2001. Having since spent three years away from Scotland, it seemed fitting that Kirkcaldy was where he rediscovered his scoring touch, and some of his earlier effervescence, during a fine display on Saturday.

Novo's goal - his first on these shores since May 2010 - was well deserved and executed with aplomb, the Morton striker nodding in from Dougie Imrie's cross. That came after the 34-year-old had another header disallowed for offside in the first half and he also sent two further chances narrowly wide of the target.

Although Novo was subjected to the odd volley of vitriol from the stands, the exceedingly rare sight of an away player clutching the man-of-the-match champagne shows the regard with which he is still held in this part of Fife. Perhaps that should not be surprising, though, as Novo's popularity had even endured Raith's relegation from the old first division in 2002.

His performance at the weekend would prove equally inefficacious for Morton, albeit the scoreline perhaps flattered the hosts. "I know very well that this is a hard place for teams to come and I thought we played a good game," said Novo. "So the defeat is a hard one to take. We need to stick together and have belief. In the second half we were always on top and hopefully if we take that attitude and performance into the League Cup against St Johnstone on Wednesday then things will go better.

"I was happy to get my first goal. But the most important thing is the team and that we start picking up the wins to get us out of the situation we are in - because I truly believe we have a very good young team; 100% we have very good players."

Despite Novo's positivity, the SPFL Championship table now makes rather grim reading for Morton, with Allan Moore's side six points adrift at the foot of the table. The League Cup offers a chance to restore a sense of belief but Morton will have to perform better than they did in Fife, with Raith taking the lead in sumptuous fashion on the cusp of half-time. Kevin Moon scampered on to Jason Thomson's long pass into the penalty area and showed impeccable technique to deftly chip Nicolas Caraux on the volley from a challenging angle. "Don't get used to those from me," said the Raith midfielder, with a smile.

Moon was left beaming at Raith's decisive goal in stoppage time, too; a typically cruel finale for Morton, who have not won a league match since August 10. The goal owed much to the remarkable pace and energy of Callum Booth as he raced 40 yards to cross for Gordon Smith.