Raith Rovers v Clyde

Recap

The Bully Wee suffered a convincing defeat at Stark’s Park today, in the second week of the Ladbrokes League 2 season.

With Barry Cuddihy ruled out due to injury, Kieran Duffie stepped in at right-back in the only change to the team that faced East Fife last weekend.

After a fairly even and indifferent start to the match, the home side were given a huge boost with the award of an extremely soft penalty by referee Euan Anderson, after Kieron Bowie made contact with Duffie and went to ground. Regan Hendry scored from the spot.

That seemed to give Raith a lift and they made it 2-0 after 23 minutes, with Bowie being given too much space at the edge of the box and taking advantage by calmly finding the corner of the net.

As Clyde struggled to get back into the game, Rovers came close again as Hendry’s header went just wide following a cross by Kieran MacDonald.

However, The Bully Wee did finish the first half in a stronger manner, with several deliveries into the home box threatening, but without any goals as a result.

Shortly after half-time, the match looked to be over as Grant Anderson found space in the box and slotted the ball past David Mitchell from close range.

On 63 minutes, Raith made it 4-0, with substitute Joao Vitoria picking up a pass, making his way into the box and squeezing the ball into the far corner.

Ally Love and Ross Lyon were introduced to the action by Danny Lennon and that sparked a late improvement for Clyde, starting with Goodwillie forcing McGurn into a good stop from 20 yards out.

A few seconds after that chance, Goodwillie did score, as Lyon did well to hit the by-line cut the ball back to the striker, with the finish crashing in off the underside of the bar.

Raith scored again though almost immediately through Smith, who took advantage of a fortunate break of the ball after a blocked shot, before Love (pictured) got the last goal of the match with a minute left to play, blasting home a fine shot following a short free-kick to make it 5-2.