Raith Rovers 1
Dundee Utd 2
League Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

No cup-tie away from home is ever easy, irrespective of whether the opposition emanate from a lower division, and that is exactly how this tie turned out. For most of the first half we dominated play, but a well organised defence, which included former Tannadice favourite Hamish McAlpine, offered few clear-cut chances.

Billy Kirkwood, playing his first match of the season, saw a shot creep narrowly wide and Hamish made a great save from lan Redford. As half-time approached we stepped up the pressure and the Raith defence somehow survived an onslaught, which ended with Hamish McAlpine turning an Ian Redford shot round the post. Two minutes from the interval there was no such escape. John Halt jinked his way down the right before his searching cross to the far post was nodded down into the net by Paul Sturrock. Raith, however, served notice of still being in the game when Billy Thomson saved well from McLeod, right on the stroke of hall-time.

Although we began the second hall well, Raith gradually came more into things. !an Gibson went close from 30 yards and then a Marshall header was only just too high. The home pressure brought reward when a penalty was awarded for a push by John Holt on Colin Harris. The same player got up to convert the spot kick award in 61 minutes. It took us sometime to regain control and Ian McPhee struck the top of the bar. In 69 minutes a neat move down the left saw Maurice Malpas make progress along the edge of the box, before unleashing an unsavable shot via the far post. From then on we were in little danger of being taken into extra time by the plucky part-timers.