Alloa Athletic 1 Raith Rovers 1

Last updated : 25 February 2006 By Footymad Previewer

The Raith Rovers pace and power allowed them to dominate the opening minutes of this hard-fought match at Recreation Park. Alloa were pinned back in defence, and only some outstanding defensive work by John Ovenstone and Chris Townsley kept Raith at bay.

Alloa slowly worked their way back into the match, and in the 25th minute Jamie Stevenson came close to opening for the home side when he beat two Raith defenders but his cross towards Robert Sloan was brilliantly saved by Alistair Brown in the Raith goal.

Against the run of play, it was Raith who took the lead. In the 38th minute Iain Davidson opened the scoring when he latched on to a Mark Crilly cross and, seeing the Alloa keeper off his line, lobbed home from 20 yards to stun the Alloa fans.

In the 53rd minute Raith came close to extending their lead when Chris Silvestro fired in a fierce shot, but Alloa keeper Allan Creer was somehow able to turn and scoop the ball clear.

In the 60th minute it was Alloa who camee close when Sloan crossed to Ross Hamilton, whose fierce shot was deflected for a corner by Laurie Ellis.

Alloa finally received their just reward when, in the 68th minute, Fraser Forrest was on hand to head home a Paul McLeod cross from close range.

Alloa suffered a severe blow in the 78th minute when Creer had to leave the field injured when he collided with the goalpost. Paul Ferguson came on as substitute and had to pull off some fine saves from Paul McManus and Neil Jablonski.

In the end a draw was a fair result for this match as neither team did enough to take full control.