Friendship set aside for 90 minutes at Central Park

Cowdenbeath manager Billy Brown will come up against his long-time friend and colleague Jim Jefferies when Edinburgh City visit Central Park today.

Brown reckons that it will be a strange experience.

Jefferies was appointed as the sporting director of the capital city club last season and he will be in Fife looking to get one over on Brown.

The Cowden boss said: “It will be strange as Jim and I spent 26 years working together.

“His role enables Jim to use his contacts to attract players and be a good sounding board to the manager Gary Jardine.

“He will be just as determined for his side to win as I am for mine.”

The Blue Brazil return home after a spirited 1-1 draw at Elgin in League Two last weekend, with Brown saying: “It was a good result and I was really pleased with how we played, especially in the first half.

“In the second we were under pressure from Elgin who are an experienced, big and physical side.

“We are a new team and our oldest player was just 23 but we saw things out.

“We are still getting to know each other but a lot of teams will leave there with nothing this season so it was a terrific start and we can go into this game with a bit more confidence as a result.”

Brown added: “Edinburgh City had a terrific second half of last season, however they will have been disappointed at losing to Montrose last weekend at home.

“They will be out to bounce back straight away so we have to be on our guard. They also have experienced players particularly in midfield but if we apply ourselves as we did last weekend then we will do well.”

David McGurn could return after a knock but Harvey Swann, Shaun Rutherford and Jack Whittaker are ruled out with Matthew McInally available after a ban.