Raith Rovers’ Calum Elliot believes Saturday’s dogged extra-time victory in the League Cup over Forfar is the sort of result that can help the club’s new-look squad fully gel.
The final 4-2 scoreline at Stark’s Park possibly flattered the hosts with the League One Loons more than holding their own, especially in the first half of normal time.
They deservedly took the lead when skipper Gavin Swankie created space for himself with a sublime piece of skill before feeding Danny Denholm, who calmly slotted past Kevin Cuthbert in the Raith goal.
Nine minutes later though two of Rovers’ seven summer signings combined to equalise when Christian Nade showed composure to play a pass to Ryan Conroy who steered the ball beyond Loons keeper Rab Douglas.
Shortly after the hour-mark Darren Dods caught Nade flush in the face with a high boot in the Forfar penalty area and referee Brian Colvin pointed to the spot. Loons boss Dick Campbell confessed he felt it was a challenge the veteran Dods shouldn’t have made while stressing that “Nade went down like a broken venetian blind”.
Elliot though made no mistake with the penalty, sending Douglas the wrong way to give Raith the lead. Forfar then scored an equaliser of their own with a Denholm header to take the game into extra time.
Elliot was the Rovers’ hero once again 13 minutes after the restart, hitting an unstoppable 20-yard strike past Douglas.
Forfar should though have had a penalty of their own when substitute Omar Kader was bundled to the turf by Nade but this time Colvin was not convinced.
And just to add to the Loons’ misery, Raith went up the park with Grant Anderson whipping in a cross which Derek Young bulleted past a helpless Douglas and into his own net to put a gloss on the final score.
Elliot admitted that the Raith players were just delighted to negotiate what had looked a potential banana skin of a tie.
He said: The most pleasing thing is to get into the next round. That’s what the manager wanted and that’s what we have done.
“We weren’t exactly delighted with the performance but we are in the hat for the next round and that’s all that matters. Forfar were good though. They caused us problems but we dug deep and got the result that matters.”
New arrival Conroy was a regular penalty taker for Dundee and Elliot was asked if there was any chance of him handing over the spot-kick duties.
But he insisted: “No, there was never any doubt. I don’t think Ryan had a say in it. I just grabbed the ball and took the penalty.
“At my second, the ball just sat nicely for me. I thought I would hit it first time as someone was closing me down and thankfully it flew past Rab and into the side of the net.
“It is great to do well in the cups but the league is the priority. It is an exciting division to be part of. We have to be consistent in the league and the cups. Rovers have the squad to do it and there are also young boys coming through as well.
“There is competition for places, something we maybe didn’t have last year. It is keeping everybody on their toes to make sure they are in the starting line-up.
“The Forfar result has given us a boost and shown that we can go the distance as well. There are a lot of new boys in the dressing-room and sometimes it takes games like that to bring everyone together fully.”
Forfar’s Denholm could and probably should have had a hat-trick but he pulled a shot wide in the second period of extra-time, something his manager was less than pleased with.
Denholm said: “We came here as underdogs but we managed to take it to extra-time and felt we had the momentum. So to lose wasn’t the best.
“It is always good to get a couple of goals but not when you get beat. I could have had a third and the manager wasn’t happy I didn’t score. I maybe snatched at it a bit.”