Sunday 11th December saw the third annual Raith Rovers Christmas Cup competition. The late withdrawal of Saints in the Community lead to some fixture changes with Raith Rovers cutting one of their team entries to create two equal groups of four. With some extra space in the schedule it was decided that rather than a straight playoff between matching places in each group there would be “semi finals” instead with the first in each group playing the runners up in the other group and third and fourth places likewise playing a semi final before playing a final game each to decide the placings.

Group 1	Group 2
Braehead FC	Crieff Juniors
Fife Wanderers 65	Fife Wandersers
Fairfield B	Dunfermline
Raith Rovers	Fairfield

Raith’s first game was against current holders Braehead. The game started well for Raith with a nice passing move through midfield leading to a John Wylie goal in the second minute. Some good football from both sides negated each other until the thirteenth minute when a John Wylie pass released Scott McIntosh to put the ball past the keeper for a two nil lead. With the game coming to an end Rovers were penalised for a third running offence and a penalty was awarded to Braehead in the last minute which they coolly dispatched past Pete Munn in the Raith goal to make the score two one. With time running out Raith held onto the ball and recorded a victory against a strong Braehead team.

Raith 2-1 Braehead
Fairfield B 2-2 Fife Wanderers 65
Crieff Juniors 6-1 Fife Wanderers
Fairfield 3-0 Dunfermline

Raith’s second game saw us play Fairfield B. A tight game saw nobody take any initiative for the first eight minutes despite plenty effort. The game came to life however in the ninth minute. Fairfield had a claim for a penalty which wasn’t given by the ref and they switched off. While Raith drove up the pitch and John Wylie scored his second of the day with the opener. A “still out of sorts” Fairfield conceded another within a minute as Scott McIntosh also scored his second of the day to increase Raith’s lead to two. Again within a minute Fairfield got a foot back in the game with a goal and then a minute later equalised with a well worked goal from the left side of the pitch. The goal action wasn’t finished with a fifth goal in a five minute period restored Raith’s lead. Scott Jackson received a ball in the Fairfield half and, feeling the defender behind him, turned on a sixpence to leave him one on one with the keeper to slot the ball past for the winning goal.

Raith 3-2 Fairfield B
Braehead 2-2 Fife Wanderers 65
Crieff 2-1 Dunfermline
Fife Wanderers 2-2 Fairfield

Going into the last of the league fixtures Raith had group one tied up with any of the other teams able to take second place. In group two Fairfield and Crieff playing for first place. However a win for Fife Wanderers coupled with a win for Crieff could see Fife take second place.

The final league match saw Raith play Fife Wanderers 65. In the third minute Ian McMillan bamboozled his defender with some of his legendary fancy footwork and slotted the ball past the Wanderers’ keeper. Fife quickly equalised with a goal from a corner in the next minute. In ten minutes Raith retook the lead when a through pass from defense by Kev Henderson found Scott McIntosh in front of goal. Two minutes later a sweet passing move between multiple players found Scott McIntosh again in front of the goal to increase Raith’s lead to two. A minute later Harry Younger scores his first of the day to make it four one to Raith. With the game running down Fife score a late consolation goal to end the game four two in Raith’s favour.

Raith 4-2 Fife Wanderers 65
Braehead Fairfield B
Crieff Juniors Fairfield
Fife Wanderers 4-0 Dunfermline

And so to the “semi finals” we had Braehead V Fairfield and Raith V Crieff Juniors for the top of the table and Fife Wanderers 65 V Dunfermline and Fairfield B V Fife Wanderers for the lower half.

Raith versus Crieff Juniors had the look of a tight game.Our games in the league this year ended in a 2-2 draw and a fortunate 1-0 Raith win. The game started well for Crieff with star striker Davie getting the ball in the Raith half and firing a low shot past Pete in goals to take a one nil lead. Raith fought back and a slick passing move in the ninth minute allowed Ian McMillan to slip a pass to Scott McIntosh who shot into the net. From the kickoff Crieff pressed and won a corner. However a break away from the corner saw Ian McMillan one on one with the keeper from which he scored. In the twelfth minute a passing move through almost all of the Raith team saw Scott McIntosh score his second of the game for a two goal Raith lead. The two goal margin doesn’t last for long as the ball slips out of Pete Munn’s hands as he throws out and the ball flies high. An indirect free kick results and clever play by Crieff cuts Raith lead to one.A comedy of errors in the sixteenth minute sees Crieff draw level. Kev Henderson takes a kick in level with the Raith box but the ball goes between Willie Carroll and Pete in goals and straight to a Crieff attacker who wasted no time equalising. The game looks to be going to penalties until John Wylie fires past the keeper to win the game four three.
Braehead 1-5 Fairfield
Raith 4-3 Crieff

Fife Wanderers 65 0-5 Dunfermline
Fairfield B 4-3 Fife Wanderers

And so to the final between Raith and Fairfield

A tight first half ended with a break away for Fairfield with the striker scoring following a one on one with the keeper. In the second half Raith pressed and passed up a few opportunities to equalise until Fairfield scored after a through ball in seventeen minutes. A further goal in nineteen minutes put the result beyond doubt and Fairfield ran out worthy 3-0 winners.

So congratulations to Fairfield and many thanks to all the teams, players, officials and referees who turned up on what was a bitterly cold day and played, watched and mixed with smiles on their faces. Special mention to John Wylie for playing on in good spirits after a bad injury and extra special thanks to JJ Henderson for organising the event and being present on the day to keep all of us old guys under control.