Bollan hails Cowden character after settling for share of spoils

COWDENBEATH 1 STENHOUSEMUIR 1

Cowdenbeath were left wondering how they were not at least three goals ahead of Stenhousemuir at half-time.

Their misses during the first period came back to haunt them as the draw did neither side a lot of favours as Gary Bollan’s side bid to beat the Pyramid play-offs and the Warriors try to make the promotion play-offs.

While Cowdenbeath were sharing the spoils with Stenny, Berwick Rangers were not losing ground by drawing at Annan, although Edinburgh City lost heavily at Montrose and the bare facts are that Cowdenbeath are 10 points adrift of these two with five games to go.

The Blue Brazil opened the game well and Harvey Swann and Brandon Luke had shots cleared off the line before Stenny keeper Chris Smith denied Harvey Swann twice and Robbie Buchanan.

Stenhousemuir took the lead on 37 minutes thanks to a Mark McGuigan header.

But within 60 seconds Cowden were level when Jordyn Sheerin robbed a visiting defender then beat Smith from close range.

In the second period Stenny saw more of the ball and McGuigan twice went close for them but Cowden seldom really threatened, running out of steam after a run of four games in 10 days.

Bollan was pleased with the performance, although disappointed not to win it.

He said: “In the first half we created a number of very good chances but then went behind.

“However, the lads showed plenty of character and came back immediately which was great to see.

“The second half was a lot more even and in the closing stages the run of midweek games started to tell as players began to fade and in the end a draw was probably the right result.

“Again the performance was good in that in spells of the game we were creating chances and good ones but we really need to stick some away to take the pressure off our defence.”

Stenny boss Brown Ferguson felt that his team did well to weather the first-half storm from Cowdenbeath.

He said: “They pinned us back at times in the first period and we had to do a lot of defending to do but then to get a goal against the run of play and then lose the lead inside a minute was a bit galling.

“However, the top four is still within our reach.”