BY DARREN JOHNSTONE – Capital City Press
Midfielder Iain Davidson has revealed how he was at the centre of a tug of war between Fife rivals Raith Rovers and Dunfermline following his Dundee departure.
The lure of Championship football was a key factor as the 31-year-old opted to re-sign for hometown club Rovers just before Saturday’s opening 3-0 victory over Livingston.
The playmaker was given a warm reception when he was introduced as a 70th minute substitute.
Davidson, who had five years with Raith before joining Dundee in 2012, was not short of options during the summer, with Livingston also keen to recruit him.
Davidson said: “The 24 hours before the game were a bit frantic with phone calls between the club, my agent and with the gaffer. It was nice to get it over the line and it’s nice to be back.
“I just started training with Raith during the week, I had been at Dunfermline for a few weeks training with them and I had an offer from them.
“I had an offer from Livi as well and there were a few teams that were interested.
“But the Championship is a good league to be in and it’s on my door step, there were a few positives that outweigh the other teams.
“I don’t know how it would have gone down if I went to Dunfermline, that was always in the back of my mind.
“I did come close to signing for them but when I heard Raith were interested I wanted to come here.”
Raith had already established a two-goal lead by the time Davidson replaced Grant Anderson.
Mark Stewart pounced on a loose ball inside the box to fire the hosts ahead after eight minutes before Ryan McCord netted a penalty ten minutes before the break when Craig Sives was adjudged to have handled an Anderson cross.
Livingston will be aggrieved that they did not even collect a consolation after Danny Mullen was denied by a series of fine saves from Kevin Cuthbert and both Gary Glen and Darren Cole hit the bar.
Mitch Megginson added a third with seconds left when he swept home a James Craigen cross.
Davidson admits he is playing catch-up after missing vital pre-season matches.
He added: “I’ve got a general fitness but match fitness is totally different. I’ll need a few matches to get up and running. It was nice to be involved on Saturday.
“It was a good reception from the fans. It was nice to hear, it gives you a little lift.”
Livingston manager Mark Burchill insists it was not all doom and gloom for his team at the weekend.
He said: “If you analyse the game properly, it was a decent performance but they got the goals at the right time.
“They scored at a time when I thought we were the better side then we got a dodgy penalty again us.”
ends
