Raith Rovers haven’t had the chance to use his bizarre goal GIF this season, but Ross Matthews is not complaining.
After almost two years of injury issues, the 28-year-old is just delighted to be playing without pain, making 13 appearances since the start of the year.
There were a couple of crucial performances in there – starts in wins over Dunfermline and Ayr among them – as Raith kept pace with Dundee United.
Rovers may have effectively lost the title over the last week but there were celebrations, albeit muted, on Saturday after securing their first top-two finish in the second tier since 2011.
There was an extra reason for Matthews to celebrate ahead of Saturday’s draw with Partick Thistle.
After 11 years at the club, it was announced that the midfielder would be rewarded with a testimonial.
It gave Raith’s social media team the perfect opportunity to crack open Matthews’ unused goal GIF in which he pours a tin of soup over himself.
Ross Matthews: I’m easily convinced
“It was stupid, it was completely random,” said Matthews. “We were all doing our goal GIFs.
“Everyone was searching for stupid things. Jamie Gullan with his big hammer and all that.
💙 11 years of Ross Matthews.
• 282 games
• 18 goals
• 31st in all-time top appearancesWe are delighted to confirm that fans’ favourite Ross Matthews will this year celebrate a well-deserved Testimonial Golf Day, Match and Brunch.
More details coming soon. pic.twitter.com/cmWAcLtssu
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) April 11, 2024
“It was me, Dylan Easton and Lewis Vaughan. We’re searching around the kitman’s room and we see this soup he has for lunch and they said ‘You’ll never chuck that over your head’.
“I’m easily convinced, so I did it. I didn’t think it would ever get shown.
“It’s one of those that you want to score but you’re also dreading that being on social media.
“The social media team warned me and asked if I was happy with it going out.”
Whether or not intentional, that session recording goal GIFs at the start of the season served as a team-bonding exercise.
It came amid a wave of positivity around the club as many, correctly, predicted good things for a club refurbished from top to bottom.
Raith’s ‘brilliant achievement’
Sharing Matthews’ GIF also helped to raise awareness of his forthcoming testimonial.
Like his team-mate Vaughan, who had his during this season, there will be a golf day and a dinner.
As of yet, no opponent has been arranged as Raith still have the small matter of determining which division they will be playing in next season.
Matthews, who was named club captain at the start of the season, hailed the club’s best finish in his many years at Stark’s Park.
“It’s a brilliant achievement,” added Matthews. “It’s the first time since I’ve been at the club that we’ve finished second in the Championship.
“We’ve come close to before. It doesn’t feel like it at the moment because there was the chance of going for the league.
“It’s a bit of a strange feeling, but when we actually look back, over the season as a whole, it’s a good achievement and we still have every chance of going up.”
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