The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Blue Brazil set to name new boss
COWDENBEATH 1 ELGIN CITY 3
It was another bleak day for Cowdenbeath, suffering their fifth successive League 2 defeat and finishing with nine men.
But the brighter side for the Blue Brazil is that their new manager is set to be named today.
Director David Allan said after Saturday’s game with Elgin: “There are just a few loose ends to be tied up and hopefully these will be completed over the next 36 hours.”
The new man will have to face next Saturday’s game with Annan without two players after the red cards shown to Fraser Mullen and David Syme against Elgin.
Cowden went a goal down in six minutes when Jamie Pyper, back after two months out through injury, was harshly adjudged to have clipped Bruce Anderson just inside the box and Brian Cameron made an expert job of the penalty.
Cowdenbeath’s Shaun Rutherford had two 20-yard free-kicks charged down by the Elgin City defensive wall but four minutes from the break Elgin stretched their lead. Slack play by the home side saw Cameron collect the ball outside the Cowden box. His first shot was blocked by keeper Dave McGurn but he followed up to blast the rebound into the net.
Cowdenbeath started the second period brightly and Josh Morris brought out a fine save from Marc Waters.
But in 55 minutes their hopes collapsed when Fraser Mullen was sent off for an off-the-ball incident and then in 66 minutes an amazing corkscrew 14-yard shot from Thomas Reilly, from an acute angle, flew over McGurn, to make it 3-0.
The Fifers were down to nine when David Syme was sent off for a second yellow with 21 minutes left, but seven minutes from time substitute Cammy Muirhead scored a fine individual goal to put a better reflection on the result.
Cowden dropped to two points adrift of Edinburgh City at the foot of the table with Saturday’s results but interim manager John Ovenstone was convinced questionable decisions by referee Gavin Ross handicapped his side.
“The penalty was very soft with virtually no contact between Jamie Pyper and the Elgin player, and the sending off of Fraser Mullen was totally needless,” he said.
“He was frustrated with himself and was certainly not shouting at the referee.
“The penalty gave Elgin a flying start, and the sending off left us with 10 men with the second half only minutes old.
“The other dismissal was a build up of the frustration, but the penalty really was ridiculous.”
Elgin boss Gavin Price was pleased with the three points. “We needed that after last week’s defeat, and I felt we played really well at times and scored a couple of well-worked goals,” he said.