Statistical Preview: Ayr United vs Raith Rovers

The first league game of this season at Somerset Park is upon us, with a clash against last season's fifth-place team, Raith Rovers. This is a crucial game for both sides, with both hoping to get their first win of the season after 1-1 draws in their opening games.  

Raith Rovers’ Form Guide 

Using the Ayr United vs Raith Rovers’ Match Stats on Andy’s Bet Club, we can see that Raith Rovers had a difficult League Cup performance, falling short of qualifying for the second stage after managing only six points from a possible 12.

The most disappointing result was a dramatic 4-2 home loss to League Two side East Kilbride, with three of their goals coming in the final minutes to snatch the win.

●      1–1 Draw vs Queen’s Park (H) – Championship

●      5–1 Win vs Inverness CT (H) – League Cup

●      3–1 Loss vs St. Johnstone (A) – League Cup

●      2–4 Loss vs East Kilbride (H) – League Cup

●      1–5 Win vs Elgin City (A) – League Cup

Raith Rovers’ Last Match: 

In Raith Rovers’ last match against Queen’s Park, their main letdown, as you can see from the table above, was their shooting accuracy, which was only 12.5%. A very low percentage, especially disappointing considering 14 of their 16 shots came from inside the box.

Their only goal came from the penalty spot, which made this stat worse, as none of their 15 open-play shots ended in the back of the net. Ayr will hope that this trend continues, but must be wary of how many shots Raith managed to create. 

Looking into how they created this number of opportunities, they favour using lots of progressive passes, attempting 103 with an impressive 73% accuracy. As part of their tactics, they pressed Queen’s Park high up the pitch, recovering the ball in their third 18 times.

Interestingly, these tactics gave Raith 22 touches in the opposition box, turning 14 of them into shots, a strikingly high conversion rate of touches into attempts. This shows how they were taking the shot at nearly every chance they got rather than waiting for an easier shooting opportunity. 

Raith Rovers’ One to Watch: 

Paul McMullan: He was Raith Rovers’ standout performer against Queen’s Park, delivering three accurate crosses, winning 70 percent of his duels, and recording three key passes.

Signed this summer after a spell in Northern Ireland, he brings experience from several Scottish clubs, including Celtic and both Dundee sides, and is expected to operate from the right-hand side of the attack against Ayr. 

Final Thoughts: 

Raith Rovers will be hoping to continue their style of play of controlling the game and creating many chances, although they will be trying to improve their shooting record and not have to rely on penalties to get their goals this time out. They will be looking to do this by recovering the ball high up the pitch and using a lot of progressive passes to form their attacks. 

Ayr could look to change how they played against Arbroath and counter this by pressing high and recovering the ball in advanced areas, something Queen’s Park failed to do.

Applying pressure would limit Raith’s ability to play progressive and long passes, as their defenders and midfielders would have less time to attempt riskier balls.

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