“It’s not done yet,” vowed Lewis Vaughan after Raith Rovers’ dramatic triumph over Partick Thistle on Friday night. The jubilant pitch invasion and outpouring of emotion in the home ranks laid bare the tensions of the penalty shoot-out that finally separated the sides after a 3-3 aggregate draw. It was a Premiership play-off semi-final fraught with nerves but illuminated by moments of brilliance that left Raith closer to their dream of promotion to the top-flight.
Courier Sport has taken a look back at a potentially pivotal night in the club’s history. Such was the passion of the instinctive pitch invasion that followed Lewis Vaughan’s decisive spot-kick it was almost as if Raith had been promoted already. But it was that kind of occasion, when victory was everything.
Manager Ian Murray had would not play a part in the second-leg. In the end, they certainly did. Raith dealt admirably with going behind on the night the first time when they were pegged back level in the tie.
However, from the moment Blair Alston made it 2-1 with his third goal of the two matches, the enormity of what was happening appeared to take hold. Rovers were , when players tried to avoid risks with mostly ’percentage’ football. To their credit, Partick, despite their gruelling quarter-final win against Airdrie, finished with plenty of energy and came close to winning it, both in regulation time and extra-time.
Defeat was cruel on the Jags. But to fall at the penultimate hurdle would have .
