Lewis Vaughan goal secures third win of season for Raith Rovers against former bogey side Inverness Caledonian Thistle

It’s only seven months since the Fifers lifted what their fans had long dubbed the curse of Caley with a 1-0 win in Kirkcaldy after going almost 22 years without a league victory versus the Highlanders and they then went on to rack up back-to-back successes by getting the better of them by 2-1 at the Caledonian Stadium in December.

A 3-2 defeat at home at Stark’s Park at the end of January ended that new-found winning streak, however, raising fears that manager Duncan Ferguson’s side could be poised to reclaim their standing as bogey boys.

A 49th-minute Lewis Vaughan dink over home goalkeeper Mark Ridgers from a Euan Murray assist was enough to lay any such worries to rest, though their hosts had chances aplenty to come out on top, hitting visiting goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski’s woodwork no fewer than four times via Cammy Harper, Alex Samuel, Danny Devine and James Carragher, with Harper also getting a second chance with a rebound off the crossbar kept out by the Pole.

That win took Rovers, now on 65 points from 34 fixtures, to within three points of table-toppers Dundee United but opportunity knocks for their title rivals to all but secure the Scottish Championship trophy at home to Ayr United today, April 20.

Vaughan’s goal was his third against Caley this season, the 28-year-old having also found the back of the net against them in December and January.

Murray was delighted to see his side get back within reach of United even if it’s only for one day, telling Raith TV afterwards: “It was really, really hard game.

“Every week they’re hard, but coming up here has been notoriously hard for every team over the years, including this season, albeit Inverness aren’t where they’d have hope to be.

“They made life very difficult for us. I thought Inverness played really well and caused us problems, particularly in the first half.

“I felt we were off the game in the first half, a bit too passive. That’s why we changed it in the second half and went and matched them up effectively. There’s no hiding place when you match teams up.

“We always felt maybe one moment of quality would win us the game.

“There were a few moments it could have gone the other way because Kevin made a couple of fabulous saves, so over the piece I’m delighted to take three points down the road.”

Murray, 43, was grateful that the match-winning moment of quality he was hoping for was supplied by Vaughan rather than one of his opponents, saying: “Most players would have just blasted that with their left foot – turned and hit it, hoping it would go in – but Vaughny’s got that in his locker. We see it every day in training and we see it in games as well. He brings us so much quality.”

Raith are back on the road next Saturday, away to seventh-placed Greenock Morton, with kick-off at 3pm.