Loan striker Declan McManus opened his account for Raith Rovers with a double in Saturday’s win over St Mirren, but reckons he should have scored a lot more.
McManus struck either side of Ross Callachan’s second goal in as many games as Raith retained their place at the top of the Championship ahead of Hibs on goal difference.
“I could’ve had eight – but it was just one of those days,” McManus said.
“If I miss 15 chances a game and score two I’ll be happy with that. You’ve got to keep getting in the positions and one of them will go in again. Thankfully in the second half it happened and I’m delighted.”
Raith reduced gate prices to the lowest in the league ahead of the match and an increased crowd of 2,140 watched the home side race into a 3-0 lead inside 51 minutes.
St Mirren pulled one back through former Raith striker Ryan Hardie, now farmed out to the Buddies from Rangers, but Rovers resisted late pressure to claim a deserved three points.
McManus broke the deadlock on 16 minutes, racing onto Lewis Vaughan’s through ball to coolly lob Langfield, but he ought to have had a hat-trick before half-time.
The forward passed up several clear cut openings, either missing the target or shooting straight at the Saints keeper when he should have scored.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic however, and stand-in goalkeeper Aaron Lennox, deputising for the injured Kevin Cuthbert, had to make a brilliant one-handed save to deny Lawrence Shankland early on.
St Mirren were also denied a penalty when Jordan Thompson clattered Stephen Mallan in the box and only a superb goal line clearance from Ross Matthews prevented Andy Webster scoring with a header from a corner kick.
The hosts eventually doubled their lead four minutes after the break as Bobby Barr’s cross was knocked down by Vaughan to Callachan who fired home from close range.
Two minutes later, Raith were gifted a third as former Dundee United captain Andy Webster left a ball to Langfield, who was caught on his heels, and McManus nipped in to score to make up for his first half misses.
Rangers loanee Hardie pulled one back for the Buddies on 64 minutes, hooking the ball past Lennox as the Raith defence failed to clear a long throw.
The Buddies piled bodies forward in the latter stages and subsitute John Sutton headed wide from just two yards, before the visitors were denied a spot-kick for a second time when Kyle Benedictus flicked the ball with his hand in an aerial tussle with Sutton.