Stark contrast

Raith Rovers 3-0 Cliftonville

It was a tale of two halves at Stark’s Park, where Raith Rovers upped the gears after the interval to send Cliftonville out of the SPFL Trust Trophy.

Having carved out the better of the chances in the opening 45 minutes, the Reds – who twice went close through Rory Hale after Ben Wilson had come within a whisker of opening the scoring – fell behind shortly after the turnaround and were never able to retrieve the situation as their Scottish Championship hosts held on for what in the end proved a comfortable 3-0 victory.

It might have been a different story had the visitors been able to make the most of their first-half opportunities but, as has so often been the case in recent weeks, the team were left rueing what might have been after being punished after the break.

Hale’s low free-kick brought about the first save of the afternoon with Joe Thomson able to get down and gather and it wasn’t long before a throughball cut the Rovers defence open and allowed Wilson to steal in behind but, from an awkward angle, his left footed attempt whistled across the face of goal and wide.

With their hosts restricted to virtually no scoring chances, Cliftonville saw another opening come and go when some neat interplay saw Hale bear down on goal only to see his powerful attempt deflected behind.

Any momentum the Reds had sought to build was steadied early in the second period when Adam Masson netted after the hosts had recycled a disputed corner kick award.

David Odumosu made a couple of smart stops to prevent the Scots pulling away but there was little he could do to prevent Lewis Vaughan’s effort from finding the net before Jack Hamilton’s header wrapped things up to ensure that Rovers – who lifted the trophy in 2021 and were beaten Finalists last season – would progress to Thursday’s quarter-final draw.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Lowe 6 (Pepper, 69 mins), Addis, Casey, Turner, McGuinness (Jordan, 69 mins), Gallagher (Kearney, 86 mins), Doherty (C Curran, 70 mins), Rory Hale, Ashford (Berry, 54 mins), Wilson. Unused subs: Gartside, Robinson.