Raith Rovers got their season off to a confident start with a 6-0 win over Peterhead in the Premier Sports Cup at Stark’s Park.
A first-half bicycle kick from Dylan Easton on his competitive debut for the club – for which he wore the captain’s armband – opened the scoring.
Raith’s second was initially credited to him but his shot appeared to be going wide before Paul Dixon deflected it goalwards.
Easton added his second, and Raith’s third, after the break.
That was followed by goals from Liam Dick, Jamie Gullan and Aidan Connolly on a night when Rovers could have scored many more.
Thin squads
Like many other sides, Ian Murray has entered this competition with an incomplete squad.
The manager has made no secret of his pursuit of central defenders and recently revealed the club is looking to markets such as Scandanavia.
Scott Brown started in central defence alongside Christophe Berra. With the home side enjoying the majority of the possession, it worked well.
Nominally a box-to-box midfielder, Brown was able to carry the ball out of defence and link with midfield.
While this may have worked, and may do for the next two matches, it may prove more of an issue when the side completes its Group A schedule versus Aberdeen.
Raith’s bench in particular highlighted the lack of depth to the squad.
Substitute goalkeeper Robbie Thomson was joined by Luke Mahady (18), Quinn Coulson (18), Greig Young (19) and Adam Masson (17).
Kieran Mitchell started in the absence of suspended Dario Zanatta and the 18-year-old was unlucky not to cap off a very good performance with a goal.
Raith’s light squad is nothing compared to Peterhead who named only one substitute.
Dylan Easton
It’s really difficult not to be excited about this signing. On his first match – a friendly versus Dunbar – he pinged in a trademark long-range effort.
Here on his competitive debut, in a crowded area, he casually returned a cross over his shoulder and past the keeper via a bicycle kick to open the scoring.
The playmaker is confident and has the ability to match the swagger – performing a number of other turns and tricks throughout the 90 minutes.
He has been given a fairly deep role by Murray. During the first couple of preseason friendlies Easton was the link between midfield and attack in a 4-3-3.
More recently he has played as part of a midfield two – this time alongside holder Sam Stanton – but that doesn’t stop him from pushing up on occasion.
Easton’s deeper positioning allows him to turn players in midfield before driving at the defence.
Performances like this one will be worth the admission fee alone this season.
Set-pieces
Murray and his assistant Scott Agnew came to Stark’s with a clear game plan in mind.
Some of their performances in preseason were reminiscent of what was on show from their Airdrie side over the last few years.
Something else they appear to have been working on is clever set-piece routines.
It was evident for two of the four fantastic goals scored in the final preseason friendly versus Alloa.
YESTERDAY'S GOALS | @Ethan10Ross, @GullanJamie (x2) and @dario_zanatta were the scorers in the pre-season behind closed doors friendly against Alloa Athletic. Looking forward to seeing you back at Stark's Park on Wednesday for the Premier Sports Cup match against Peterhead FC 💙 pic.twitter.com/56faMR6V6l
— RaithTV (@RaithTV) July 10, 2022
It was in evidence again versus Peterhead, with two early on almost catching out the opposition.
These didn’t lead to anything but one did in the second half, allowing Easton to net his second of the game.
When the clever ones don’t work they still have the likes of Christophe Berra and Dick to aim for.
Conversation