Raith Rovers v Hearts: Team news, how to watch, likely starting XI, match odds

Everything you need to know ahead of Friday’s match in the Scottish Championship.

Armand Gnanduillet scored twice on his Hearts debut the last time the teams met. Picture: SNS

Team news: Jamie Walker, Aidy White and Stephen Kingsley are unlikely to recover from injury in time but manager Robbie Neilson revealed that everyone from the squad at the weekend “should be fine”.

Possible XI: Gordon; Smith, Souttar, Halkett; Logan, Haring, McEneff, Halliday; Mackay-Steven; Boyce, Henderson.

What Robbie Neilson said: “We want to go there and win. We had a great result and performance there last time and we'd like to finish off in style.

“We ended the home campaign in style [beating Inverness 3-0] and we want to try and do that away from home. It's a game we are looking forward to.

“It's similar to Saturday's game, when Inverness had to win and were on the front foot as opposed to some teams this season who just sit in. I expect Raith Rovers to be at it and come out trying to win.”

Match details: Friday, April 30. Kick-off 7.45pm. Stark’s Park, Kirkcaldy.

How to watch: The match will be broadcast live by BBC Scotland. Coverage of the game begins at 7.30pm and ends at 10pm. The game is also available on a pay-per-view basis through Raith TV, while Hearts TV will offer footage for international subscribers and audio coverage for fans in the UK and Ireland.

Last meeting: Having been humbled by John McGlynn’s side at Tynecastle three days earlier, Hearts wiped the floor with Raith in Kirkcaldy with a convincing 4-0 victory and a match the visitors dominated from start to finish.

Key stat: Failure to find victory from this contest would mean Hearts and Robbie Neilson had a poorer league campaign than the Dundee United side who he led to the title last year. They had a points-per-game figure of 2.107 after 28 games, while a win at Stark’s would take Hearts’ average to 2.11 over 27 matches.

Referee: David Munro has taken charge of two Hearts matches this Championship season and fans will be hoping Friday’s game follows on similar vein. The whistler was present when Dundee were thrashed 6-2 on the opening day and again when the men in maroon put five past Ayr United in a 5-3 win.

Match odds: Raith 14/5, Draw 13/5, Hearts 10/11

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