Arbroath had an afternoon to forget with a heavy defeat to Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park, in a match that saw the Gayfield side finish with ten men.
George Oakley’s first half double was compounded by a Charlie Dewar red card, before Jai Rowe added a third in the first half. Dylan Easton’s penalty after the break rounded off a comfortable 4-0 win for the Fife side.
The Lichties’ line-up showed four changes from last weekend’s draw with Dunfermline, as Scott Constable returned from suspension, Tom Beadling joined him in midfield while there were starts for on-loan Hibs duo Rudi Molotnikov and the returning Jacob MacIntyre. Scott McGill, Ryan Flynn, Michael McKenna and Andy Winter were the four to drop out.
Raith began the match the stronger of the two teams and after Aidan McAdams survived an early scare by just about collecting the ball in his box, Rovers moved in front. Oakley was simply stronger in beating Dewar to the ball before staying composed to slot past McAdams.
Oakley was proving a menace to the visiting defence in the opening stages and soon had his and his side’s second as he was afforded far too much time to cut inside Dewar, before wrongfooting McAdams with a tidy finish.
Things went from bad to worse for Arbroath when Dewar was once again caught out by a ball over the top before sending Oakley tumbling to the ground and being shown a straight red card by referee Dan McFarlane.
The resultant free kick was teed up for Rowe whose powerful strike flew past McAdams to add a third for Raith inside the opening half an hour.
Jon Robertson looked to add to his tally for Rovers after scoring his first for the club last weekend, with two quickfire efforts that failed to trouble the Arbroath goal, as the three-goal lead was enough at the break.
Raith did extend their lead just beyond the hour mark however, when Robertson was felled in the area by Jacob MacIntyre, allowing Easton to step up and beat McAdams from the penalty spot.
Unsurprisingly, it was one way traffic with only a Tam O’Brien block on the line denying Scott Tiffoney a goal, before Rowe went looking for a second stunner with a strike that flew over the bar. Aaron Lyall and Easton both then hit the target with a couple of efforts from the edge of the area, but McAdams was able to easily hold both.
Raith Rovers: Rae; Rowe, Baird (Fordyce, 69’), Hanlon, Delaney; Montagu (Brown, 60’), Adamson (Turner, 77’); Robertson (Lyall, 69’), Tiffoney, McMullan; Oakley (Easton, 60’)
Arbroath: McAdams; Watson (Winter, 22’), Dewar, O’Brien, Mackie; Constable, Beadling; Bonnar (McGill, 77’), MacIntyre (Beattie, 77’), Dow (Paterson, 77’); Molotnikov (McKenna, 65’)
Attendance: 3,036
