A visibly disappointed Jack Hamilton urged Raith Rovers to use Tuesday’s huge Fife derby to get back to winning ways.
The striker netted his seventh goal of the season in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with his former side Arbroath at Stark’s Park.
The 23-year-old’s header put Raith two goals ahead but a wonder striker from Arbroath’s back-up goalkeeper Ali Adams – amid an ongoing injury crisis – inspired the away side to an unlikely comeback.
Hamilton revealed that post-match the goal was being discussed as a potential contender for the Puskas Award, a prize handed out annually to what is judged as the most aesthetically pleasing goal in world football.
🧤 Goalkeeper comes on as a striker…
Scores an absolute WORLDIE! 🚀
Take a bow, @Alasdairadams1 🔥#cinchChamp | @ArbroathFC pic.twitter.com/hFrHGyalOG
— SPFL (@spfl) December 31, 2023
Leighton McIntosh’s penalty with 10 minutes to go meant Rovers finished off an incredible year top of the Scottish Championship yet slightly down after two consecutive home draws.
Jack Hamilton: Raith must learn from mistakes
“We’re disappointed when we don’t win a game,” said Hamilton. “But we’ve done well this season, we need to keep taking the positives and build again.
“We need to learn from our mistakes, we were in on Sunday to look over the game and see what we can do better for the next game.
“It’s the derby on Tuesday so there’s no better game to get back to winning ways.
“We should be dealing with that better, to be 2-0 up and to give away. It’s a great strike, you can’t take that away from the keeper, but it’s really just disappointing from us.
“It’s an unbelievable strike, I’ve never seen a strike like that from a goalie before.
“We were literally saying in the dressing room that it will probably be up for the Puskas Award for goal of the year.
“Fair play to him, hats off to him, it’s a great strike. One I’d take, definitely.”
The Raith striker could have easily had his eighth goal of the season soon after his seventh had he connected as well with another Aidan Connolly cross.
Unfortunately for Hamilton, the ball bounced wide and soon after Arbroath were thrown a lifeline through Adams’ goal.
‘I should be hitting the back of the net’
“I definitely should be scoring that,” he said. “Going by my standards, I should be hitting the back of the net. These things happen, hopefully I can do better next time.
“We’ve had a great season so far, the last two results have not gone our way. We’ve not been up to the standards that we set at the start of the season.
“We’ll still take the positives out the game and try to push on from there.”
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