Mackie leads SPL charge

Ritchie 2 Raith Rovers 0 - Inverness CT 1

FOLLOWING their midweek Scottish Cup adventure at Pittodrie, the Inverness players ventured south to Starks Park yesterday in their bid to hang on to the coat tails of league leaders Clyde in the First Division race.

The Highlanders emerged from the trip to Kirkcaldy with a further three points, courtesy of a strike from veteran Paul Ritchie and John Robertson's men are now exerting real pressure on their Cumbernauld rivals before they meet at Broadwood in two weeks.

From a Raith perspective, the defeat leaves their immediate future in the balance. Failure to win any one of their last five games has led to relegation storm clouds over Starks Park. With three league games remaining, they are still uncertain of staying up, and their final fixture of the season - away to basement rivals Ayr United - could take on additional significance.

The damage was inflicted on Raith by Ritchie but Caley's main weapon was on-loan Aberdeen midfielder Darren Mackie. Playing in an attacking midfield role, Mackie ran at the Raith defence at every opportunity and, while he was unable to get his first goal since joining the club in January, the extent of his contribution was crystal clear.

With two minutes on the clock, Mackie embarked on the first of many runs down the right flank, his low cross being turned into the net by Ritchie. For the remainder of the half, he continued to torment and it was only the brilliance of Rovers goalkeeper David Berthelot which prevented victory being secured before the interval.

Raith were clearly missing the influence of injured player- manager Antonio Calderon and striker Ramon Pereira, and they rarely threatened Caley goalkeeper Ross Brown. Their best effort was from Jonathan Smart which was cleared off the line by Roy McBain. But the visitors had numerous opportunities to increase their margin, the closest being a shot from Steven Hislop, palmed away brilliantly by Berthelot.

Raith (3-5-2): Berthelot; Smart (Young 76), Dennis, Bornes (Boyle 41); Capin, Nieto (O'Reilly 50), Brady, Maxwell, Dow; Paquito, Ferrero. Subs not used: Martin, Gonzalez. Bookings: Maxwell 53.

Inverness CT (4-4-2): Brown; Tokely, McCaffrey, Mann, Golabek; McBain, Hart, Keogh Mackie; Ritchie (Bingham 76), Hislop (Proctor 75). Subs not used: Munro, Thomson, Fraser. Bookings: Tokely 55, Mackie 61.

Referee: C Mackay.

Attendance: 1,748.

Copyright 2004 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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