It took Saints just 5 minutes to open the scoring. David van Zanten's superb cross was brought down by John O'Neill just outside the Raith box, and he fired a great shot past Ramiro Gonzales (who will now be referred to as Gonzo The Clown) for the first Saints goal from open play at Love Street since Allan Russell's winner against Clyde at the end of August!
Raith hit back 5 minutes later when a free kick was missed by everyone and John Sutton tapped in from 2 inches. However, he was rightly ruled offside, so Saints got away with their shambolic defending which would be a feature of the first half. Indeed, it was only the fine goalkeeping from Hinchcliffe which stopped Raith from bagging half a dozen before they finally did so.
Paquito must have thought all his Christmas's, Easter's Ramadan's and Birthday's had come at once when he found himself unmarked in the Saints box. The cross came in and he had a few hours to compose himself and lash it past Hinchcliffe. 1-1 at half time then, and it was no more than Raith deserved for their fine play.
Saints started the second half the far better of the two sides, and Laurie Ellis came close to scoring against his former side when his superb drive was just tipped away for a corner by Gonzo The Clown. Shortly after, Ricky Gillies should have scored but instead chose this moment for his obligatory one on one miss, hammering the ball at The Clown's legs. Broadfoot and Gillies again went close over the next few minutes as Saints looked to be getting closer to retaking the lead.
However, they suffered a major blow when Gus MacPherson was stretchered off and replaced with Mark Dempsie. Craig Hinchcliffe had the ball, so threw it out of play to allow Gus to receive treatment. Raith gave the ball back.
Saints defence looked increasingly shaky, and Raith pushed forward, coming close on a few occasions. How they didn't score remains a mystery to me.
With just 20 minutes left Saints brought on Barry Lavety, and the prodigial son displayed what is becoming a worrying habit of missing some sitters. Everyone wants Basher to get back to scoring ways, but it seems the pressure is getting to him a bit. The sooner he scores the better. This time he added variety to his misses when he sent an easy shot wide of the goal, and also had a poor header.
Ten minutes to go and Saints took a free kick far, far too quickly. Martin Prest nipped in to get the ball, and appeared to be fouled, crumpling in a heap in the process. Play raged on and eventually Gonzo The Clown threw the ball out to allow Prest to receive treatment. What happened next pays Raith abck for all their diving, play acting, time wasting and general cheating which has gone on this season, not just against us but against everyone.
The ref went to Prest and, apparently, told him to get up or be booked. He then signalled for Saints to take the throw in as normal, so Brian McGinty did. Raith failed to clear their lines properly and about 30 seconds later Robert Dunn, on as a sub for Allan Russell, rode three challenges before whipping in a fantastic cross which Gillies powerfully headed past Gonzo The Clown for his 50th Saints goal. The cheats complained, but what goes around comes around.
This is no way like the Arsenal v Sheffield United incident of a few years ago. Raith were fully aware we were proceeding as normals, and had all their defenders back to mark it. The general reaction of most first division fans seems to be that Raith deserved what happened, and it was a similar reaction to their 7-1 defeat by Ross County a few weeks ago. It seems no one likes Raith, and thats what the deserve for all their diving antics.
Saints still had time to put the game beyond doubt when Dunn put in another fine ball. Basher was at the back post, finally about to score, when a Raith defender intervened and decided to smack the ball off his own cross bar! Not exactly orthodox, but unfortunately for Basher it worked.
Saints may not have deserved this win but it was good to get it up Raith Rovers. The much maligned Robert Dunn had a superb game when he came on, whilst Ricky Gillies had a nightmare apart from his goal. Here's hoping for another victory against Brechin next weekend.