Raith Rovers put their first three points on the board with a 3-2 win over Morton in a tetchy affair.
Jack Hamilton got off the mark for his new club, Lewis Vaughan added to his tally and Callum Smith – who was a pest all afternoon for the Morton defence – scored a goal worthy of winning the game.
But they did it the hard way: chucking a two-goal lead and having to adapt to repel near-constant pressure from the visitors at one point.
📸 A five-star show from Callum Smith.
Full highlights at midnight. pic.twitter.com/eDfxAJ4W1g
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) August 12, 2023
Courier Sport looks at the talking points from Saturday’s hard-fought win.
Were Rovers that bad?
After the game, Ian Murray was fairly scathing in his assessment of his team’s performance.
Rovers were comfortably ahead in the first half – though watching the first penalty decision back, they were given a helping hand by referee David Munro.
Despite that, Rovers were well worthy of their two-goal lead at that point and conceded out of nowhere. They also finished the game strongly.
What is worrying is that Rovers spent most of the second half camped in as Murray made changes to stem the flow.
They also conceded twice from Morton’s only two shots on target.
Murray was right that they must vastly improve if they are to compete against Hibs in the Viaplay Cup next week, but there were still positives to take from the match.
Too many conceded goals
Even though Raith haven’t lost over 90 minutes in seven competitive matches, starting on the final day of last season, they are conceding a few too many.
They have conceded four goals in their first two Championship matches – joint second worst in the division at this early stage.
In the Viaplay Cup group stage, Murray’s side let in five goals, more than the other second-placed teams other than Forfar.
All attackers off the mark
That doesn’t matter too much if you are regularly out-scoring your opponents – or, in the case of the Partick Thistle match, snatch an unlikely point.
Not only are Rovers scoring a lot of goals – the joint most in the division along with Saturday’s opponents and Dundee United.
They are being shared around too. Of their 13 goals so far, aside from the own goal versus Albion Rovers, there have been eight different scorers.
All the attacking players are off the mark – other than Ethan Ross, who has still made his mark, setting up two in the Thistle comeback and winning a penalty late on versus Morton.
That penalty was missed by Josh Mullin, but he is already on the board, along with fellow summer signings Callum Smith and Hamilton.
A new way to win
There have already been a few signs that this is a different Rovers side to this time last year.
Murray said he feared at one point his team would end Saturday’s game with nothing, such was Morton’s second-half momentum.
But, for all their pressure, Kevin Dabrowski was rarely tested – his lacklustre kicking didn’t help though – and Raith showed resilience to nick a winner on the counter.
It was another result they likely wouldn’t have dug out this time last season.
