BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
RAITH ROVERS chief executive Eric Drysdale has lambasted the “idiot” responsible for striking midfielder Ross Matthews with a coin, while confirming that the Fife outfit have passed on images of the alleged culprit to Police Scotland and Dundee United.
Matthews, 21, staggered to the turf after being hit by a missile launched from the away supporters housed in the Val McDermid Stand on Saturday. The incident occurred during the closing stages of Rovers’ 2-1 win over United.
Stark’s Park officials subsequently pored over CCTV footage in a bid to identify the individual, while they thoroughly examined in-house video of the fixture, recorded by their Raith TV team.
They firmly believe they have pin-pointed the guilty party and supplied the evidence to their Tannadice counter-parts on Tuesday morning.
Police Scotland have also been contacted, with Rovers fully intending to treat the attack on Matthews as a criminal matter.
Drysdale said: “We are pleased to advise that we are today passing crystal clear images of the alleged perpetrator to Dundee United and to Police Scotland and every effort will be made to identify the individual concerned.
“The club deplores all forms of unacceptable conduct. We continue to take all steps that are reasonably practical to prevent incidents and to detect anyone who does commit any offence, and we will always press for firmest action to be taken against anyone proven to be involved.”
Matthews finished the encounter with a visible bump on his head, but avoided serious injury.
Drysdale added: “Fortunately, Ross is recovering from the injury he sustained on this occasion, but the object could so easily have hit anyone on the field of play or indeed another spectator who may not have been so lucky.
“There were young children close to the man seen throwing the object. It doesn’t bear thinking about if one of them had been hit and I hope the idiot responsible is quickly brought to justice.”
