Raith Rovers striker Greig Spence was already a hero to Kirkcaldy fans before he signed for their club in the summer as his second career goal actually won them the Second Division title back in season 2008/09. It is quite a feat for the former Alloa Athletic, Celtic and Hamilton Academical striker as Spence had never donned blue and white colours until the start of the season.
Spence had burst onto the football scene back in February, 2009 when he scored at the National Stadium for the Recreation Park side against Queen’s Park in what was a key game at the foot of the table.
The striker cancelled out an early goal from Paul Harkins and was carried shoulder high by his team-mates back to the centre circle before Stuart Noble hit home the winner in a 2-1 success. He continued his progress as a Wasp and the striker's next goal was going to be even more important as not only did Alloa avoid relegation trouble as a result, the club he is now playing for were involved in a neck to neck race for the Second Division title with Ayr United.
On the penultimate Saturday of the season, Rovers headed to Hampden themselves and were leading Queen’s Park 1-0 thanks to an early Graham Weir goal which opened up a four point gap on the Somerset Park men who were playing Spence’s side.
Current Ayr United boss Mark Roberts put the Honest Men ahead just before half-time and that brought the gap back down again to two points and as both games entered the final 15 minutes, it looked like there could be a 'Helicopter Second Division Saturday' on the final day of the season with Rovers hosting Arbroath and Ayr visiting Peterhead.
Spence changed all of that by levelling for Alloa and as both final whistles were blown, there were celebrations for him and his team-mates as they ensured that they would not be involved in the relegation Play-Offs and ironically, Queen’s Park would, and there was also celebrations for the Stark’s Park side as his goal saw them crowned Second Division Champions.
Spence said: “A lot has happened since my first goal for Alloa over three and a half years ago. I had not long left school and was working as an apprentice with my dad when we won that game 2-1. I did not know that I would be starting but the then Manager, Allan Maitland, had tipped off my parents and they were there to see me.
“My next goal was the one that you could say won the Second Division title for Raith and a few fans and players that were here at the time have spoken to me about it since I joined. I did not realise at the time that the goal had made me that popular in Kirkcaldy.”
Spence followed up his goal against the Honest Men with a double against Brechin City to close out the season and started the 2009/10 campaign with a goal in the Challenge Cup against Ross County however, he was soon to leave Recreation Park for Glasgow.
He said: “I was at Alloa for about 18 months and I loved my time there and I remain grateful to the chance that the Manager Allan Maitland gave me. I was a first team player at 16 and I was delighted with the education they had given men but I could not turn down the chance to join Celtic.
“They offered me a full-time deal and that was key to me as it was a great chance for me to develop further as a player. I ended up there for three years and it was a great experience.”
Spence added: “I was working with top coaches and players and the development I got both as a player and a person was incredible. I trained a few times with the first team squad and just being in amongst them was a learning experience. To watch how they trained and conducted themselves all helped my football education.”
The now 20-year-old scored again at Hampden during his time as a Celtic player as the green and white hoops defeated Rangers 2-1 in the SFA Youth Cup Final in April, 2011. Spence opened the scoring with Rhys McCabe levelling before Liam Gormley crashed home the winner with the initial goalscorer saying: “That goal meant a lot to me as I had been out injured for most of the season and had only been back for eight weeks by the time the Cup Final came around.”
At the start of the next season, Spence took what he thought would be another step forward in his development when he agreed to join a Hamilton Accies side that had just been relegated from the SPL on-loan from the Parkhead club.
The move left Spence frustrated as he said: “I went there looking to get games and goals but I ended up disappointed with the move. I was starting games and scoring a few goals and then I dropped out of the picture a good bit and I was not sure why.
“I scored after coming on as a substitute in the Friday night game against Partick in the middle of January and then scored two games later against Ayr but I did not get much game time after that as they seemed to start playing boys that had come through their youth set-up.”
Spence added: “I was training with Hamilton full-time as opposed to being with Celtic so it was a frustrating time. I played for a half in the Challenge Cup Final but overall, it was not the good experience I thought it would be.
“My contract at Celtic ran out and I was not overly interested at signing for Hamilton so I did not pursue anything there. It was disappointing as I never forced Celtic to make a decision on me because if you are not playing for Hamilton, you are not going to be playing for Celtic. It was disappointing to leave such a big club but I had to look at it as a new beginning.”
The frontman, who hails from Fife, was determined about one thing and that was finding a new club during the summer as he said: “I spoke to a few people in Scotland and England but I was determined that I was not going to go around from club to club putting myself on trial. I wanted a solid pre-season behind me and when John McGlynn, who was in charge at Stark’s Park, then got in touch and it looked like I would get to do that at the Rovers.
“I really enjoyed being in there and when it came to sorting out a deal both parties were happy to get one signed. John signed me although he left shortly afterwards for Hearts and Grant Murray took over but that was no great surprise as he was ready for it.
"He said he still wanted me and he had impressed me in training. Raith are a good club, they are also local and full-time so it was perfect for me.”
Spence has also shown that he is ready for life in the First Division on a regular basis as he has scored six times for the Stark’s Park side now.
He said: “The season so far has been great. It started slowly for me as Brian Graham was firing goals in from everywhere and Pat Clarke was supporting him and I had a few games when I came off the bench. Pat picked up an injury and I have been starting and have scored a goal in each of our last three games.
“My favourite was probably the goal against Partick Thistle that put us one up. That was quite a big game as they were undefeated at the time and to put us ahead against the League leaders was a good feeling.”
The Kirkcaldy club appear to be lucky to have three experienced on-form strikers in their ranks with Spence saying: “Big Brian has been knocking them in all season and Pat and I have chipped in as well with all three of us scoring in the 4-4 game against Cowdenbeath last Saturday. Our squad is small and we only have the three strikers so it is good that we are all scoring. The sense of competition for two starting places is keeping everyone on their toes.
“Hopefully, that competition will also help us have a really good season. I would think that finishing in third or fourth place would be a success for Raith Rovers. Our squad is probably not big enough to really push for the title but conversely, finishing below third or fourth would be a disappointment.”
It is back to New Douglas Park for Spence this weekend and he is hoping that history repeats itself but that he plays a more prominent role this time as he said: “We played Hamilton in the first game of the season at our place and won 2-0. I was an unused substitute that day but a repeat of that scoreline and a goal for me would be a great day for me and Raith.”
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