Raith almost let Dumbarton steal a point

Gary Locke complained of his Raith Rovers side being 'slack' and 'sloppy in possession' but settled for stressing the positives after they won for the first time in four matches.

Despite the victory Gary Locke said he side were 'sloppy'

The Stark’s Park outfit, who fielded Hearts youngster Liam Smith after agreeing an emergency month-long loan for the full-back, should have been out of sight by the time Dumbarton threatened an unlikely comeback in the second-half. An early Kevin McHattie strike and two goals inside a minute from Ross Callachan and Scott Roberts, the latter a magnificent 25-yard drive in off the upright, told the story of Raith’s first-half dominance.

However, Dumbarton substitute Ryan Stevenson drilled in his own stunner before Robert Thomson pounced to give the Sons even more belief 13 minutes from time. But Gregor Buchanan’s red card for a second booking in the 89th minute eased Raith’s fears as they saw time out for a welcome win.

“For 65 minutes, I don’t think I’m being disrespectful by saying we should have been about 5-0 or 6-0 up,” said Locke. “We played really well and scored three good goals. Then we let them back in the game.

“At the end, I don’t think we were hanging on, but you get nervous because there’s only one goal in it and you’ve been three up.”