Ayr United were made to endure a painful night under the lights in Kirkcaldy as they fell to Raith in front of the TV cameras.
The Honest Men couldn’t recover a poor first half performance which saw them trail 2-0 at the break as the Fifers earned the points.
United, who had the chance to go second with a win, showed only glimpses of themselves as an attacking force as Lewis Jamieson’s double sealed the deal for Neill Collins’ men.
Ayr made three changes from the side which ground out a win at Airdrie last week with Paddy Reading, Roy Syla and Alfie Bavidge coming in for starts.
Frankie Musonda, Jay Henderson and Marco Rus all dropped to the bench as Scott Brown sought a fresh approach at Stark’s Park.
And Ayr almost made a bright start when Connor McLennan, who was deployed on the right wing, cut back for Bavidge in acres of space 12 yards out but his effort was sent straight at Kevin Dabrowski, allowing the keeper to beat the ball away.
Raith quickly grew into the game and hit the front when Dylan Easton tried to lob Liam Russell, with the keeper only able to get a hand to the ball and claw it into the path of Lewis Jamieson who fired home.
Ayr did have the ball in the net through a header from Mark McKenzie but the whistle of ref Lloyd Wilson harshly denied United for a shove in the box as they looked for a route back into the contest.
But just as it looked like they would get to half time to reorganise, Raith cut them to shreds to double their lead with Lewis Stevenson crossing for Jamieson to grab his and Rovers’ second of the game.
Brown turned to his bench at the interval, sending on Rus and Henderson for Syla and George Oakley as he desperately looked for some inspiration following the poor first half.
However, Ayr could have been further behind shortly after half time when Jamieson drew a fine stop from Russell as the keeper pulled off a great stop from a low drive to keep United somewhat in the game.
Jamieson was again denied his hat trick after just failing to control a cross from Stevenson after a great run from the full back as Ayr clung on to some slim hope.
But they were unable to test Dabrowski in the home goal as the clock wound down on a night to forget.