My Top 8 Raith Rovers Moments

8. RAITH ROVERS 1-1 St. Johnstone (St. Johnstone won 5-4 on pens) (Scottish Challenge Cup 1st Round, August 2007)

Most of this list is comprised of true glory-moments in Raith Rovers' recent history. Last year's Ramsden's Cup Final win against Rangers, the fairytale encounter with Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, and the legendary defeat of Celtic in 1994, all of course feature. The enduring allure of sport, however, owes something to its tendency to provide theatre at the most unexpected moments. In recogniton of that, I'll kick things off with a slightly more commonplace fixture. Indeed, there are few less (ostensibly) dramatic settings than the first round of the Scottish Challenge Cup, the lowliest competititon in professional British football - the diddy of all diddy cups.

I was joined by a couple of non-Rovers-supporting friends, who for some reason had chosen to give up their free time and money to watch this vapid Raith side of lower-league journeyman, distinguished only by Marvin "Super Marv" Andrews (right), the genial, man-mountain Trinidadian Pastor in his second spell at the club. Our opponents were St Johnstone, at the time the best side in the 1st division (the league above Raith), and a routine defeat looked on the cards. We witnessed an uneventful first half, as Rovers  trailed 1-0 to an early penalty, and proceedings seem to be following their expected course. Yet after the break, this group of part-timers from the "agricultural" school gradually began to play their way into the match, growing with confidence with every passage of play, spraying incisive passes with every attack. Saints were being totally dominated. Nick Hornby observes in Fever Pitch that football fans are at their best when their team is losing but playing well, and so it proved in this match, as the crowd grew more vociferous with every passing minute. Most of the punters had turned up more out of habit than anything else, yet, in spite of themselves, were electrified by this near meaningless game. Raith were still recovering after being brought to near-extinction in 2004 by the bizarre and disastrous reign of Claude Anelka, brother of Nicolas, who had bought the club and subsequently installed himself as manager. Three years on, this performance suggested the team were showing signs of life. Deprived of even modest success since the mid-90s heydey, the Rovers support were responding to a courageous performance that had everything but a goal. We created created chance after chance after chance, still to no reward. Then, deep into injury time, from what felt like Raith's twentieth corner, veteran Andy Todd powered a header at the near-post into the top corner to send the game to extra time, cue cathartic pandamonium in the stands. Ultimately Rovers lost the match on penalties, yet we went home uplifted by a bizarrely exhilirating match.

7. Dunfermline Athletic 2-2 RAITH ROVERS (First Division, November 2010)

Three years on from that strangely compelling St Johnstone match, Raith were sitting improbably top of the division above, transformed by John McGlynn's understated but effective stewarship. This match away at old foes Dunfermline, narrowly behind in 2nd and with a greater playing-budget than their Kirkcaldy rivals, was the first real test of whether Rovers could be considered genuine title contenders. At half-time it appeared the answer was an emphatic "no", with the Pars 2-0 up and coasting, and Raith lethargic and off-the-pace. It looked like we were about to feebly relinquish our league at the top of the league to the local rivals, when, out of nothing, a Dunfermline player was sent-off for a second booking with about 15 minutes to go. The extra man spurred Rovers into life, and after a defensive mix-up handed us a route back into the game, for the last 10 minutes we had them pinned back in hunt of an equaliser. Deep in injury time, Allan Walker craned his neck to loop a header towards the back post, somehow dropping beyond the keeper's despairing dive and into far corner of the net, prompting wild, rhapsodic, hug-the-guy-three-rows-behind-you celebrations in the away stand; securing an improbable point, and preserving Raith's place at the top of the league.

6. Dundee 1-2 RAITH ROVERS (Scottish Cup Quarter-Final, March 2010)

After an against-the-odds win in Aberdeen in the previous round (see below), confidence was on a high going into this rare last eight appearance. Cult hero Gregory Tade threw down the gaunlet in the build-up, warning league-leaders Dundee, "Aberdeen weren't up for it - you better be up for it!".

They did not heed Greg's advice. Old tactical cliches like "take the game to them early" and "catch them cold" rarely come-off in practice, but there's few things in football more satisfying when they do. Dundee were half-asleep as Rovers' 'up-an-at-em' approach  yielded two goals in the first 10 minutes, the second a memorable, bullet-header from long-time stalwart Laurie Ellis when shooting towards the Raith fans. With Dundee still reeling, we scored a third wrongly ruled offside. They pulled one back in second half but the underdogs held on to reach a first Scottish Cup semi-final in 47 years.

5. RAITH ROVERS 2-1 Dunfermline (First Division, January 2011)

A couple of months after the last-gasp draw kept Raith top of the league against their local title rivals, this time a win was required to stay ahead in the race for the SPL. In a New Years derby in front of a rare sell-out crowd at Stark's Park, captain Mark Campbell put Rovers in front on his return from almost a year out after a serious car accident. Dunfermline equalised, but the best Rovers strike- partnership of recent years combined in a brilliant counter-attack to see off our more expensively assembled rivals. John Baird scampered down the park, and threaded a perfect through-ball to Gregory Tade, who thumped home the winner. The fans were starting to believe we really could win the league. (Alas, we did not.)

4. Aberdeen 0-1 RAITH ROVERS (Scottish Cup 4th Round, February 2010)

A last minute equaliser for Aberdeen in the home leg looked sure to have ended Raith's hopes of a quarter-final appearance. To make matters worse, captain Mark Campbell was in a serious car crash the night before the replay at Pittodrie. His replacement Dougie Hill was subsqequently was injured in the warm-up, while on-loan Johnny Russell (now a Scotland internationalist) was carried off after 25 minutes. This left the team with four first-team regulars out, and two midfielders playing in defence, against an Aberdeen side coming off the back of a 4-4 draw with Celtic at the weekend. On a freezing winter's night, Rovers stuck to their gameplan, and grew in confidence as the match wore on. When charismatic Frenchman Gregory Tade fired us in front with half an hour remaining, he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the 700 Rovers fans in the opposite corner, but stopped himself at the last moment and just sat crosslegged, crossarmed in front us with a big grin on his face. Rovers saw out the win with little stress to seal our biggest cup scalp in fifteen years. It was probably this performance - disciplined, dogged, with a resilient team spirit  - that best defines the John McGlynn era.

3. RAITH ROVERS 1-0 Rangers (Scottish Challenge Cup Final, 2014)

Two decades on from beating the other half of the Old Firm in our last cup final appearance,  Raith took on a Rangers side who, just two years after being reformed, were already bragging about their prospects of another domestic treble, albeit of a rather less illustrious kind. With the Second Division title already confirmed, Lee McCulloch and co declared they were eyeing up the Scottish Cup and Challenge Cup next, setting things up nicely for a shock Raith win. Through a nervy and goalless 116 minutes, the Rovers fans roared-on their local team amid the hostile "Rule Britannia, We Are The People, Shove your independence up your arse" chants from the opposition. It made it all the sweeter when John Baird pounced to fire home Greg Spence's saved shot with four minutes of extra time left to play. Bathed in sping sunshine at Easter Road, a ground which has proven to be blessed turf for Rovers (see below), the team paraded the trophy in front of their 4,000 fans. My Dad and I had been sitting in different parts of the stand during the game, and it was a special moment embracing him post-match outside the ground, twenty years after he took me to the League Cup win against Celtic, one of my earliest memories and formative experiences.

2. Bayern Munich 2-1 RAITH ROVERS (4-1 on aggregate) (UEFA Cup 2nd Round, October 1995)

My developmental footballing years were a gilded age for Raith Rovers. At a run-of-the-mill league game in the mid 1990s, I remember as a wee boy asking my Dad what the score was on aggregate. He explained that only European ties are decided on aggregate, not ordinary league matches. My confusion derived from Raith's intrepid European run in 1995, the club's reward for the previous season's League Cup triumph. Victory over Gotu Ittrotarfelag (an unpronouncable name permanently etched in my memory) of the Faroe Islands followed by Icelandic champions Arkranes, delivered an improbable tie against German giants Bayern Munich. The first leg at home was moved from the then standing-terraced Stark's Park to the larger, more modern arena of Easter Road in Edinburgh, where we watched a Bayern side featuring Oliver Kahn, Jurgen Klinsmann, Jean Pierre-Papin, and Dietmar Hammann defeat Rovers 2-0. I was too young to make the trip to Munich for the return leg, but those that did surely didn't bank on their team actually making it a contest. Absurdly, the tiny Kirkcaldy club sneaked into 1-0 half-time lead, thanks to Danny Lennon's deflected free-kick. Although Bayern recovered to win 2-1 on the night, the hypnotic photograph taken during the first-half would immortalise Rovers' top-of-the-mountain moment. Surely there hasn't been a more unlikely, incongruous achievement by a Scottish club in Europe?

1. RAITH ROVERS 2-2 Celtic - 6-5 on penalties (Scottish League Cup Final, November 1994)

Raith's ultimate achievement must rank as one of
the biggest shocks in Scottish football's history, and remains the last time a national trophy was won by a team playing outside the top division.

In 1994, the prospect of winning the League Cup (which at the time guaranteed a place in Europe) represented a lot more to Celtic that it does now. In the middle of Rangers' nine-in-a-row dominance, Celtic were going through a barren spell of five years without a trophy. Their team of seasoned internationalists were heavy favourites against the Kirkcaldy club, which had never won a major tournament in its history, and was made up in part of players from its own youth team, such as Colin Cameron, Jason Dair, Stevie Crawford.

I was five at the time and remember only fragments of the big day. Getting our faces painted at Church that morning. Travelling through with bus-loads of other Raith fans. My Dad pointing-out people in the crowd that we knew before kick off, amongst the 11,000 Rovers supporters occupying the Govan Stand at Ibrox. I don't remember much, if any, of the match itself. I don't recall Crawford's opener for the underdogs, nor Celtic's equalizer and would-be winner six minutes from time ("And Nicholas has surely won the cup for Celtic!") My Dad assures me he had a "feeling" that this would not be the last act. Gordon Dalziel stooped to nod home and take the game to extra time - with the green ribbons already on the trophy, so they say. I think I vaguely remember the penalty shoot-out, looking at the scoreboard and understanding that if Celtic missed the next penalty, we would win the Cup ("Unthinkable, surely, for the skipper to miss..."). But that could well be retrospective memorialising. Most vividly, though, I recollect seeing an old man on the bus with tears in his eyes, and asked my Dad why he was crying. Dad told me because he had never seen Rovers win anything.

Despite what this effusive post might suggest, I'm not a hardcore Raith fan nor would I want to be. I haven't lived in Kirkcaldy since I was eight and aside from one of my best friends who lives there, I don't have any connections to the town. I have continued to follow the club, but generally pick and choose "big games". Occasionally, while sitting in the November cold and drizzle, watching over-priced, low-standard football in a sparse crowd, it's felt like I'm irrationally clinging to some diminishing remnant of the past. That's perhaps part of why when a small club does experience great times, it means all the more. Moments like those I've described soar above the norm of humdrum mediocrity, ensuring mythic status, and, perhaps in a select few cases, even ranking as defining events in one's life. Through bouts of apathy and disappointment, there will always be the potential for your football team to reawaken a defiant, nostalgic pride.