Albion Rovers 2 v 0 Raith Rovers 
Friendly
29th July 2003
Albion Rovers 2 v 0 Raith Rovers
Friendly
29th July 2003
Click to enlarge
Attendance : 310
Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : McAllister (41), Farrell (61).
In this battle of the Rovers, the Albion variety certainly deserved to come out on top, largely due to an excellent second-half display. The Kirkcaldy visitors huffed and puffed, but only occasionally broke down the stuffy home defence, and even then found goalkeeper Chris Fahey in great form.
The only blot on an otherwise satisfying evening for the Cliftonhill outfit was the last-minute red-carding of striker Mark Yardley for an alleged kick on Raith’s Vincent Talio. Although the decision appeared rather harsh, it presumably means that Yards misses Saturday’s Bell’s Cup Tie against East Fife.
To balance that however, new signing Paul McManus had a good debut and looks as if he might just be the answer to the sometimes worrying lack of striking success.
McAllister on Form
After Raith had the unsuccessful first shot at goal in the 6th minute, the homesters started to show their worth, with Kevin McAllister pulling the strings from a forward midfield position. In 12 minutes, a nicely weighted cross from the wee man just eluded McManus at the back post and within a couple of minutes another tempter was headed over by Jim Mercer.
Midway through the half, the visitors’ Mark Peers - possibly their best player on the night - fired a twenty-five yarder over the bar, followed almost immediately by a similar attempt from Ryan Blackadder which was expertly turned aside by the agile Fahey. Following that, there was little goalmouth action to interest the fans until the 38th minute when the local heroes really should have taken the lead. Crunchie McAllister collected a ball on the right and advanced confidently to take the ball round ‘keeper Jamie Sweeney. However, the angle was just a bit too tight, and when the veteran eventually elected to cross the ball into the middle, the Raith defence was equal to the task and cleared the danger.
Nevertheless, the home support had only a brief period to wait for something to exercise their lungs, as a move involving Jered Stirling, Mercer and McAllister ended as the latter scored with a low shot which might just have touched a Raith foot on its way to the net. With seconds remaining to the whistle, Mercer came close to doubling the lead when he dived to meet a Stirling cross, his header skidding past the post.
Good Second Period
A number of interval substitutions included Yardley replacing Jordan Smith who had taken a knock and was withdrawn as a precaution, and the big man almost made an immediate impact when yet another good cross ball from Stirling was just too quick for him. Shortly afterwards, new boy McManus though he had made a scoring start but although the ball found the net, he was well offside.
During the next ten minutes or so, there was action a-plenty with the impressive Obidile twice coming close for Raith. His first try hit the face of the crossbar and his second was well anticipated by Fahey whose foot diverted the low shot for a corner. At the other end, Graeme McCaul had a shot saved by Sweeney and McManus was outnumbered close to goal before a cute pass by Yardley found the onrushing David Farrell who strode on to plank the ball firmly into the net from an angle.
Once again, Fahey had to look sharp to save from Peers before Yardley was frustrated by a great double block by Sweeney. As the match entered its final stages, Peers again made Fahey work for his wages as the ‘keeper turned his 30-yarder over the bar. With nine minutes remaining, there was a moment of controversy when Raith defender John Henry clearly pulled down Iain Diack outside the area, referee Cammy Melville surprisingly taking no action other than awarding the free-kick. Two minutes later, at the other end, Mr Melville clearly saw home sub Charlie Connolly pull the jersey of Peers inside the box and pointed to the spot. Up stepped Blackadder to blast the ball high over the crossbar - and probably all the way up to Coatdyke cross!
There were only second of the match remaining when Yardley got involved with Talio and saw red. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the decision, there is no appeal and the big man will miss at least one match.
Albion Rovers : Fahey, Paterson, Stirling, Smith (Yardley 46), Cormack (Potter 65), McCaig, McAllister (Diack 60), Farrell, McManus, McCaul, Mercer (Connolly 77). Unused Subs : Swain.
Raith Rovers : Sweeney, Talio, Driana, McKeown, Brown, Henry, Peers, Marchio-Vechio, Sutton, Blackadder, Obidile. Subs ; Devlin, Malcolm, McCann, Boyle, Martin, Raffel, Haddow, Richardson, Gonzalez. (Because of uncertainty as to identities, the Raith substitutes are not listed against those they replaced. To further confuse matters, one substituted player actually returned to the field of play later in the game.)
Referee : Cammy Melville
Man of the Match : Kevin McAllister
