Dundee United would have every right to expect to be top of the cinch Championship going into Saturday's clash with Raith Rovers given the start to the season they have made. Fourteen matches, 10 wins, four draws and no defeats is about as strong a start as any relegated side has made to a league campaign in the Scottish second tier in recent years.

Despite collecting 34 points from a possible 42, United find themselves two points behind their visitors to Tannadice this Saturday, albeit with a game in hand, in a match billed as the game of the day in Scotland. It will certainly be one of the best attended with a crowd in excess of 10,000 expected only to be bettered by the turnout at Celtic v Hearts.

Raith are the talk of the town across Scottish football for their late heroics which have accounted for a sizeable chunk of their 36-point haul to date – as was witnessed in front of the BBC cameras at Stark's Park last Friday in an entertaining seven-goal thriller against Partick Thistle that saw a 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 deficit then a 4-3 victory.

Raith manager Ian Murray (left) with Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin during the 1-1 draw at Stark's Park in October. (Photo by Sammy Turner / SNS Group)

Matches and outcomes like that are normally a rarity but Ian Murray's men are producing seemingly impossible heroics on a near weekly basis since salvaging a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season with two late goals at Firhill. Incredibly, Rovers have collected half of their points from goals scored in the 80th minute onwards. Even more remarkably, 11 of those points have been accrued in stoppage time with draws, and even defeats, turned into victories.

A 3-2 win over Queen's Park at Hampden last month was earned despite the Kirkcaldy side being a goal down and a man down due to a red card for defender Euan Murray as the game entered the 89th minute. They also inflicted a first and so far only defeat on Inverness boss Duncan Ferguson a few weeks ago with goals in the 86th and 94th minute turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory in the Highlands. There was also a 93rd minute winner from Sam Stanton in a Fife derby against Dunfermline and just this week, when it appeared certain United would have the comfort of going into Saturday's match as league leaders, up popped Lewis Vaughan with a 95th minute winner in Arbroath that seemed magnetised towards the net as it took a couple of deflections on its way in.

The Tangerines have the chance to wrestle back control of the situation on Saturday as two clubs with contrasting styles go head-to-head for the second time this season. The previous meeting at Stark's Park on October 7 ended in an evenly contested 1-1 draw with Vaughan's first half opener cancelled out by Louis Moult's second half leveller. While United are robust and solid at the back, conceding just six times in the league so far with Scotland defender Declan Gallagher at the heart of their defence, Raith are cavalier by comparison having conceded three times as many goals but with a reliance on their mavericks in attack such as Vaughan, Dylan Easton, Aidan Connelly and Callum Smith ensuring they outscore the opposition.

It promises to be a fascinating match right up until the final kick of the ball.

Dundee United v Raith is talk of Scottish football: Huge crowd expected, clash of styles, Rovers' stoppage-time heroics

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