THIS was only James Fowler's third match in full charge of Queen of the South and he may never oversee one more dramatic.
For the sake of his health, he may not want to.
Queens and Raith Rovers served up a feast of football under the Friday night lights in Kirkcaldy, with six goals, a red card and a host of scoring chances on show during a breathless 90 minutes. John Baird, a hero round these parts after his extra-time goal against Rangers won the Ramsdens Cup last season, was first to strike, bundling home from close range after seven minutes when Raith goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw fumbled a cross from Danny Carmichael.
Baird and Gavin Reilly hit the crossbar and post respectively before the Dumfries side doubled the lead early in the second half. Reilly eventually found his range, turning a shot into the net following a clever cut-back from the excellent Carmichael.
However, substitute Mark Stewart led a revival from the home side. The striker scored with his first touch of the ball, bundling past Zander Clark, just before the hour mark. That goal gave Raith impetus and Christian Nade forced the ball over the line three minutes later.
Unlike his celebration at Easter Road, Nade managed to keep his shirt on as he wheeled away to celebrate. Instead, it was Kevin Holt's poor sense of timing which was exposed, with the Queens left-back sent off for a lunge on Jason Thomson.
Fowler reacted with a significant substitution of his own - Derek Lyle coming off the bench to nod the visitors back in front. Stewart duly hit back three minutes later, but this was a match which deserved a dramatic ending.
Iain Russell obliged. The striker latched on to a knock-down from Lyle and, with only seconds left to play, clipped a deflected drive past Laidlaw to claim all three points.
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