There is a fair chance that this Saturday’s Fife derby between the only two sides in the IRN-BRU First Division Championship with perfect records will be fighting it out with Aberdeen’s SPL visit to McDiarmid Park to play St. Johnstone for the largest attendance of the day in Scotland.
Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic are meeting at Kirkcaldy’s Stark’s Park and with the excitement building all week, there may not be many of the 8,473 seats vacant come three o’clock on Saturday.
For a number of the Kirkcaldy men, it means coming across their former side and the midfield duo of Iain Williamson and Stephen Simmons were delighted to be asked to preview the game.
Williamson said, “It is always good to play against Dunfermline as I know a lot of their players and backroom staff. There will be a few of us coming up against our old team with Stephen Simmons, Craig Wilson, Scott McBride and myself all playing there in the past.”
Raith go into this game in good form after quickly shrugging off the disappointment of the 1-0 home defeat from Cowdenbeath in The ALBA Challenge Cup that opened their season. John McGlynn’s men saw off another Kingdom of Fife side, East Fife, 4-1 at Stark’s Park in The Co-operative Insurance Cup before opening their League campaign with a 4-0 defeat of Partick Thistle, again at home.
Rovers then showed that they can win away from home as well when last weekend, they defeated Queen of the South 3-1 at Palmerston Park to give them a played two and won two start to the League campaign.
22-year-old Williamson said, “It has been a really good start to the League with two wins and six points. We have scored seven goals and only conceded one which is pretty good going.
“To have the first derby with Dunfermline in the third game of the season is really exciting and hopefully, the fans will turn out in good numbers.
“They certainly did last season when ironically, we went to the top of the League at the end of August after winning 2-0 at their place.”
A crowd of nearly 6,300 was in attendance at East End Park at the end of last August to witness the Raith win however, Williamson played in front of a much bigger crowd in his Dunfermline days. A then 19-year-old Williamson came on as a substitute in the 2007 Scottish Cup Final for the Pars in front of 49,600 fans against Celtic at Hampden.
Williamson came on in the last couple of minutes to try and galvanise his side after the shock of going behind to a late goal from Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé however, the dye had been cast and the Glasgow side won 1-0.
“It was tremendous to be involved,” said Williamson before adding, “Hampden was packed against Celtic and to play in that game aged only 19 was incredible. It is certainly my best memory of my time at the Pars.”
Two years later, Williamson moved to a Second Division Raith Rovers side, initially on loan and he helped them win the Second Division Championship and in fact, you could say he gave a knock out performance to help them come top.
McGlynn’s men took the lead after less than a minute in their crucial second last game of the season against Queen’s Park with Williamson and Stevie Hislop combining for Graham Weir to score. However, half an hour later, Williamson was out of the game quite literally. Hampden was looking like an unhappy ground for Williamson again as he was taken off and he was not allowed back out to watch what was happening.
He explained, “I was knocked out cold and when I came round, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the treatment room of the away dressing room at Hampden. It was a crucial day because if we won and Ayr dropped any points, it meant that we would win the League.
“Our physiotherapist, Gordon McEwan, could not leave me unattended because of the nature of the injury and the two of us had to watch the results coming in on Sky Sports.
“We won and Ayr drew but even when we knew we had won the League, it was a bizarre time as we could not celebrate. Everyone else was still out on the pitch enjoying themselves and we were stuck in the changing room!”
Williamson joined Raith Rovers permanently last summer and played his part in another successful season that saw him grace Hampden again, although his luck was still out. A thumping goal from him looked set to knock Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup at the Fifth Round stage at Stark’s Park only for that claim to fame to be snatched from him.
“I scored a good volley that day with my left foot which is not really like me,” said Williamson before adding, “They then scored an equaliser in the last minute. We then went up to their place and won which made it an even bigger result so I suppose I cannot moan too much.”
Raith then saw off Dundee at Dens Parks and were drawn to face Dundee United in the Semi-Final. The Tangerines won 2-0 to leave Williamson saying, “It was great to end up at Hampden again for what was a really big occasion for the club and the fans. It was a disappointing result and performance that day all the same so Hampden holds mixed memories for me.”
The next big occasion for Williamson, his colleagues and the followers of Rovers is the visit of Jim McIntyre’s men this Saturday. The midfielder is happy that despite having spent his career in Fife, he will not be splitting any family loyalties in this game.
He said, “Saturday’s match is a big, big game for everyone in Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline. However, thankfully I will not be upsetting any family members as I am an Edinburgh boy.”
Williamson’s team-mate at Raith Rovers, Stephen Simmons, is a former Par however, they have more than that in common as Simmons’ luck when it comes to the National Stadium in Glasgow is just as cruel.
The 28-year-old was ineligible for the Dunfermline side that made The CIS Insurance Cup Final in March 2006 against Celtic as he had played in an earlier round with his first club, Heart of Midlothian, and just over 12 months later, he missed out on two big occasions in Glasgow’s south side.
The first time Simmons missed out was self-inflicted as he picked up a booking for pretending to smoke a cigar after scoring both goals in a Scottish Cup Quarter Final against Partick Thistle that Dunfermline won 2-0. It was his second booking in the competition and he missed out on the Semi-Final match against Hibernian at Hampden!
Simmons said, “Looking back, it was a stupid celebration and I missed out playing in the Semi-Final as a result. To make matters worse, I then missed the Final against Celtic because of a foot injury.
“It kind of summed up the luck that Dunfermline had at that time as we would struggle in the League but do really well in the cup competitions.”
The next stop for Simmons was a five month stay at Queen of the South that started in the summer of 2008 and ended in January 2009 when he dropped down to the Second Division to join Rovers. The move was readily agreed as Simmons wanted to work again with his coach at Tynecastle when he was starting out as a young player, John McGlynn.
He said, “I was delighted to be reunited with John McGlynn and I came in and played in enough games to get a Second Division Championship medal. That is a real highlight in my career as I had not won anything before and in the SPL, you don’t really get a chance to win the League, unless you are with Rangers or Celtic.”
“It was great to go on and win the League for John. I knew him from my time at Hearts and he deserved that win. He is a great guy who does everything for you both as a player and a person.”
Simmons was a mainstay in the Rovers side that retained First Division status last season as well as that fine Scottish Cup run to the Semi-Finals and he is delighted with how the opening stages of this season have gone.
He said, “We were looking for a good start and could not be happier. It was two tough games in the League to start with and we are delighted to have the full six points.”
The Glasgow born player is eagerly anticipating the match-up with his old pals saying, “This was always going to be a big game as there is such a great rivalry between the fans. The fact that we are both unbeaten will add to that.
“It is great to be involved in big games as that is what you want as a player. We had big games last season with Aberdeen, Dundee and Dundee United in the Scottish Cup as well as the derby games against Dunfermline in the League.”
“When we were in the Second Division, some games had less than 1,000 fans so it really is the bigger the better for me and it would be great if every seat was sold for Saturday.”
Despite his great respect for McGlynn, Simmons is preparing not to listen to him on Saturday saying, “I doubt I will be able to hear the boss from the touchline on Saturday as it will be a noisy game. He will have us well prepared anyway and it would be great to win a top of the table clash against our local rivals.
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