42

Stark’s Park

Friday 22^nd August 2025

I wasn’t initially expecting to see two games in two days, it’s not something I think I’ve ever done before. However we were heading down to Edinburgh on Friday for a wedding on Saturday and I noticed that Raith Rovers were at home that evening. This would mean a much shorter trip to Kirkcaldy than I would otherwise be able to manage and the real bonus was that they were playing Dunfermline Athletic in the Fife derby.

Wherever possible I’m hoping to get to meaningful games for the teams involved. This obviously won’t happen all the time as some teams have fewer (or no) natural rivals and across a full season not every game can be inherently important. Therefore the chance to see a derby so early on in this journey was one that I grabbed with both hands.

There are four Fife teams in the SPFL with the other two being East Fife and Kelty Hearts but to all intents and purposes Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic contest the Fife derby. With Dundee and Dundee United being like ships passing in the night and only both appearing in the Scottish Premiership together three times in the last ten years there’s a case to be made that the Fife derby has been the third biggest derby in Scotland in the last decade. Raith and Dunfermline have faced each other 39 times over that period compared to the Dundee teams seeing each other on just 21 occasions.

This version of the Fife derby was first contested in September 1889, just over a year after the first ever Old Firm game and earlier than the Liverpool, North London, Madrid, and Milan derbies. Dunfermline ran out 1 – 2 winners on that occasion and they still have a slight edge over Raith Rovers with 52 wins to Raith’s 49 with 32 draws in the 133 results so far.

Raith Rovers haven’t played in the top flight for almost 30 years now and have probably seen more downs than ups in the intervening period. The lowest ebb may well be the 2004/25 season when Raith were the club that responded positively to Claude Anelka’s (brother to Nicolas) offer to pay £300,000 to any team that offered him a managerial job. Whilst the cash injection may well have been useful the part-time DJ who had never coached professionally nor even visited Scotland set about signing French journeymen that their own families would likely struggle to identify and the results were entirely predictable. Despite falling on his sword after just three months the team couldn’t recover and a total of 16 points from 36 games and a -41 goal difference saw Raith finish 23 points adrift of Partick Thistle at the bottom of the table and relegated to the third tier.

This season both teams appear to be far more optimistic. At Dunfermline, manager Neil Lennon is steadily rebuilding the squad in a way that has the fans excited for the future and Raith come into the game unbeaten in 12 league matches dating back to the end of last season. Although it’s still early days both teams are unbeaten this season and a win would put either team top of the league, until the following evening at least.

As we were already in Edinburgh the journey through to Kirkcaldy was significantly easier than it would otherwise have been and in order to miss the worst of the Friday evening Edinburgh traffic I decided to get the train. I got on at Haymarket and was joined by a bunch of Dunfermline fans when we got to Inverkeithing. The railway line runs directly alongside Stark’s Park and you get a quick glimpse inside from each end of the currently unused Railway Stand as you go past.

The station in Kirkcaldy is a mile or so from the ground so again I had a walk to the match. The streets were already beginning to fill up with fans from each team and there was also a fairly sizeable police presence indicating the depth of dislike between the two sets of fans.

The ground itself is squeezed in between the railway line and streets of terraced housing and as a result you arrive before you even realise it’s there. There were still queues to get in 15 minutes after the gates had opened but they moved quickly and before long I’d found my seat. I was in the Penman Stand behind the goal with the home fans. The view was ideal, high enough to see the action at both ends but close enough to the pitch to feel the atmosphere. On the right was the Turnbull Hutton Stand which was designed by Archibald Leitch and looks to have heaps of character, away to the left was the Railway Stand giving me the unusual opportunity to watch trains going past from inside the ground.

About ten rows in front of me were the Raith Rovers ‘Ultras’. Scottish football has got fully behind this concept in the past few years with most grounds having a dedicated area for their team’s group. It definitely adds to the atmosphere at matches and from the clubs’ perspective builds engagement with a committed section of the fanbase. It’s also good to see young fans supporting their local team rather than being pulled into the all consuming orbit of the Old Firm. From the moment I entered the ground until after the final whistle the Raith Ultras were making noise and making their presence felt.

Prior to kick-off there was a performance by Kirkcaldy band The Shambolics who did a version of Rockin’ All Over The World before performing their own song, Dancing On The Streets of Raith. This is a reference to a (locally) famous blunder by Grandstand presenter Sam Leitch who uttered those words in relation to the team’s fans following a last-gasp victory, clearly not realising that although the team are called Raith Rovers there isn’t really anywhere called Raith and they actually come from Kirkcaldy. The band used the song to taunt the Dunfermline Athletic fans over the tannoy which got a great reaction from the home fans around me.

The game kicked off and began with a bit of head tennis from both teams. After Dunfermline finally managed to bring the ball down and get it under control Dylan Easton blocked the attempted clearance and collected the loose ball. He beat his man and drove into the box towards the touchline. An attempted cut back was helped on its way by Paul McMullan before reaching Lewis Stevenson on the edge of the six yard box who was able to toe-poke the ball past Mason Munn to give Raith the lead after just 70 seconds.

After such a quick start the first half settled into a slightly frustrating routine. Both teams were finding it difficult to get out of midfield with periods of possession inevitably brought to an end by an inability to find the final pass or through ball. Raith were the more confident of the two teams but the only other real chance of note in the first half fell to Dunfermline when Andrew Tod picked up the ball on the halfway line and spotted Josh Rae off his line. His attempted lob was a decent effort but was always going wide.

The only other moment of note in the half also involved Tod who is instantly recognisable on the pitch due to his sports goggles which are reminiscent of Dutch legend, Edgar Davids. In challenging for a high ball on 19′ Tod clashed with Stevenson who appeared to lead with his elbow. The collusion was so forceful that Tod’s goggles were knocked off his head and he was clearly dazed and confused in the aftermath. Somehow Stevenson only received a yellow card whilst Dunfermline lost what looked to be their best player.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first with Raith dominating possession. The difference though was they were starting to see this possession turning into chances. On 49′ Raith got the ball after a clearance was dispatched so hard as to bounce on the roofs of the houses alongside the stadium. From the subsequent attack a great cross from deep by Josh Mullin perfectly picked out Easton who controlled with his chest and volleyed past Munn. The goal was ruled out for offside but Raith had showed early on that they weren’t happy to settle for the lead they had.

The next big chance came just a couple of minutes later when a goalkick was missed completely by the Dunfermline defence and McMullan ran on to the ball. Faced with Munn charging out of his goal McMullan elected to try and lob the keeper but couldn’t get the ball above waist height and it was easily saved. It was definitely the wrong decision as any real shot on target would almost certainly have resulted in the second goal.

With an hour gone both teams looked to freshen things up by getting some substitutes onto the pitch. Much has been made of Dunfermline’s recent signing of Peruvian U23 international Jefferson Caceres due to the use of advanced stats in deciding to bring him in (which seem to be viewed in Scotland the same way that witchcraft was thought of in Salem in the 1690s). He didn’t get much of an opportunity to show what he could do after coming on as Dunfermline still couldn’t exert any sustained pressure.

The one sub that did make a difference however was Raith’s Richard Chin. Despite only joining in the summer he already appeared to be a bit of a fan favourite, being applauded whenever he warmed up and getting a loud cheer as he ran on to the pitch. It’s easy to see why he is popular too. He’s lightening fast and happy to take on (and beat) defenders. There was also a final product with quite a few dangerous crosses into the box and one clinical pass that set up a decent chance for Mullin.

Raith did eventually get the second goal on 78′ following a good attack down the left that Dunfermline defended by conceding a throw in. From this Lewis Vaughn cut inside and scuffed his shot towards the near post. Munn was clearly expecting a much more powerful shot to his far post and was completely wrong-footed as he watch the ball trickle in on his right hand side. Despite this excuse it was a bit of a howler from Munn and it should never have ended up in the back of the net.

The second goal killed off any chance Dunfermline had of getting back into the game and Raith were able to close out the victory pretty comfortably and take their position at the top of the Scottish Championship.

Due to issues after previous games the police had enforced a hard road closure between the home and away fans as they left the ground. Unfortunately for me this meant the most direct route back to the station was blocked off. With only 20 minutes before the train that I needed to catch I had to run through the back streets of Kirkcaldy whilst frequently looking at Google Maps to check where I was. Luckily I was able to make it in time and get back through to Edinburgh without any issues.

The Facts

• Ground
  • Stark’s Park
• Home
  • Raith Rovers
• Away
  • Dunfermline Athletic
• Competition
  • Scottish Championship
• Result
  • 2 – 0
• Scorers
  • Lewis Stevenson, Lewis Vaughn
• Attendance
  • 6,551
• Cost
  • £24
• Total distance travelled
  • 22 miles
• Transport
  • Train
• My MotM
  • Dylan Easton, there weren’t any real standout performers to be honest and you could have chosen from a couple of players in Raith’s midfield but Easton seemed to be more involved throughout and it was his determined run that led to the early goal.