McGurn stars as Cowden earn a point

QUEEN’S PARK 0 COWDENBEATH 0

It was honours even at Hampden as Cowdenbeath secured a point in a feisty goalless encounter which could have seen five or six goals scored during a frantic first 45 minutes.

The Blue Brazil had keeper David McGurn to thank for keeping the Spiders out with a string of terrific saves from one-on-one chances and were unfortunate not to have got themselves on the scoresheet having created several clear-cut opportunities.

McGurn said: “We had to put our bodies on the line to keep it tight at the back and we were unlucky not to have taken more from the game given the chances we created.

“But Queen’s Park probably had more of the clear-cut chances and we didn’t pass the ball as well as we would have liked, so with that in mind the draw was probably a fair result over the piece.”

Martin Scott had the best of the visitors’ chances when he ran clear on 14 minutes but home goalkeeper Jordan Hart denied the striker with a fine onehanded save.

A first half free-kick from Fraser Mullen almost caught out Hart who could only push the ball against the bar and that was as close as the Central Park men came.

Manager Gary Bollan said: “It’s hard to believe the game finished goalless given the number of chances at both ends.

“From our perspective the game was more open than we would have liked it to have been. That is not how we like to play.

“Despite the lack of goals, it was an entertaining match for the fans.

“The clean sheet was pleasing, and we have David to thank for that as he made a number of good saves.

“It was an encouraging defensive display as we had previously been losing goals from silly situations and have been working hard to eradicate that.”

Bollan added: “I could not fault the work-rate of my players, but we had too many off their games and when that’s the case, you’re not going to win games.

“We looked a bit rusty in the first half and, although it is not an excuse, we can look to last weekend’s postponed game at Elgin and feel we lost a bit of momentum from that.

“Overall we are disappointed in the manner in which we played because we know we can play a lot better than that.”