18/3/00 Parscelona 4 Raith Rovers 1

March 18th 2000

Parscelona 4 Raith Rovers 1
St Leonards Park, Dunfermline

[thanks to Keith Rapley for the details]

Although the playing surface was less than perfect, the weather was excellent for football and the game sprang to life quickly.

In the fourth minute, a Parscelona cross met with a Raith defender's hand, and Ally Mooney put it away in the bottom right corner to give the Pars an early lead.

With quarter of an hour gone Grant Cotter hit the post, but he wasn't to be denied for long. Four minutes later a pass from Keith Mackie gifted him another chance, which he converted easily.

Parscelona went three up on the half hour mark when Ally Mooney's drive found its way between the Raith keeper's hands.

Raith suffered a final first half blow just one minute later when a ball from out wide evaded the defence leaving Alex Mercer to fire home from close range.

The Pars looked like they were going to continue in the same fashion when Jamie Miller lobbed the Rovers' defence. Alan Maxwell was on the end of it but after the Raith keeper blocking his first effort a minor stramash saw his backheeled follow-up hit the post and roll out of play.

However, the Rovers improved in the second half and, after being denied a penalty, pulled one goal back. A corner was swung into the box and gave the Parscelona defence all kinds of problems, with the ball finally being blasted through a mob of players to leave the final score 4-1.

The large squad made a difference, and showed exactly what could be done when we actually have the luxury of substitutes.

Pars squad: Ronz, Fraser Clark, Ross Arnott, Steven Clark, Alan Maxwell, Grant Cotter, Grant Macleod, Keith Mackie, Ally Mooney, Alex Mercer, Scott Smyth, Neil Holland, Stuart Holland, Johnnie MacDougall, Colin McKean, Chris Ozog, Jamie Wilson, Jamie Miller, Cammy Wilson, Chris Godden, Alan Duffy, Grant Simpson, and Keith Rapley as referee.

Scorers for Parscelona:
G. Cotter
A. Mooney(2)
A. Mercer

Scorers for Rovers:
?