Scoring the winner on Saturday against his former club Queen of the South was doubly sweet for Raith Rovers defender Craig Barr.
Not only did his second-half strike seal victory and confirm Rovers’ place in the promotion play-offs, it also gained some revenge for his troubled spell at the Dumfries club.
Barr spent two seasons at Palmerston Park between 2008 and 2010 but left on acrimonious terms involving an operation on a cruciate ligament injury.
“It’s always nice to score the winner in any game, never mind the goal that clinches the play-off position for the boys,” Barr said.
“It was also nice to score against my old team, who I didn’t have the best of times with.
“There was a court case that went on and I was left stranded, in my opinion.
“When I had a cruciate injury they never paid for it, so there’s still bad blood there.
“I got over it I’m 29 now but even though it’s different players and a different board that was always in the back of my mind. It makes it even sweeter.”
Rovers have only lost one match in nine since Barr returned from long-term injury a 2-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox and the defender is relishing being part of the push for promotion.
“It’s been a frustrating eight or nine months for me. But the boys have dug in and, to be honest, I’ve just been happy to get some games and contribute in a small way,” he said.
“I don’t think it was the best performance from the boys, but it just shows the team spirit and hard-to-beat attitude that we have.
“Momentum is in our favour and we hope it will carry on into the play-offs.”
Rovers made three changes from the side that drew with Rangers the previous week as Aiden Connolly, Ryan Hardie and Scott Robertson replaced Iain Davidson (injured), Ross Callachan (suspended) and Joe Thomas.
Raith made a strong start and took the lead on eight minutes when Connolly’s corner kick was met by Kyle Benedictus, who powered home a header from close range.
Queens went on to dominate the rest of the match and Rovers had Kevin Cuthbert to thank for making a series of superb saves, the first of which arrived on 39 minutes as the keeper dived full stretch to push away a Darren Brownlie header.
Cuthbert was powerless to prevent the hosts’ equaliser on 53 minutes as Dale Hilson sent a powerful half-volley into the top corner from 20 yards.
The Raith keeper was called into action almost immediately after the restart to deflect a Callum Tapping effort over the bar, before making another reflex stop to deny Kyle Hutton’s header.
The stops proved pivotal as Raith regained the lead against the run of play just after the hour mark.
Barr saw a header from Connolly’s corner cleared off the line but, when the ball broke back to the big centre-half at the edge of the box, he fired a well-struck volley into the bottom corner of the net.
Rovers lived dangerously in the last 20 minutes but Cuthbert came to their rescue with a stunning point-blank save to deny Hilson’s close-range header.
He then foiled Iain Russell in a one-on-one, while Lewis Kidd struck the bar with an overhit cross.
The victory confirmed Raith’s place in the top four, to the delight of manager Ray McKinnon.
“It’s been a long season and we’ve managed to get over the line so we’re obviously extremely happy,” he said.
“This is a tough place to come and we were a bit depleted, but we’ve got good winners in our team and they’ve come up trumps.
“It’s a fantastic achievement by the players to be where we are with three games to spare it’s incredible.”