Published: Thursday, 24th April, 2008 10:00am

Cowden will play for pride

by Jim Stark

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Brian Welsh

There may not be a lot riding on Saturday"s home match with Queen"s Park for Cowdenbeath but the Fifers so much want to win this game.

Queen"s were the team that Cowden really wanted to catch to avoid the relegation play-offs in the Barrs Irn Bru Second Division but despite two wins at Hampden Park the Fifers failed in their task.

Yes Cowden won twice at the home of Queen"s and they would like to make it three out of four against the Glasgow side this weekend.

Cowden"s poor home form has been the real reason for their plunge into the play-off place.

They have taken only one point from their last seven home games which is simply not good enough and everyone at the club hopes that the form at Central Park will improve in the play-offs.

Manager Brian Welsh was not surprised by Saturday"s 3-0 defeat at Dingwall but he was pleased with some of the things he saw.

He said, 'We were really up against it playing the champions on their own turf with a weakened side. We were already short of nine players when Chris Shanks had to call off ill on Saturday morning but the lads on duty worked hard throughout the 90 minutes. Also we could not risk Jay Shields as he is one booking away from a two match ban.

'We had hoped to frustrate them but losing a goal in only two minutes saw that go out of the window and for a spell we had to battle hard to keep them out.

'The second-half saw us see more of the ball but just could not get a goal.'

Looking ahead to this weekend he added, 'We want to finish the league campaign with a win if we can but we will have to field the strongest side we can raise.

'It would not only lift our spirits but also boost confidence for the play-offs which start next week.

'Hopefully we might have one or two players back from injury, David and John Armstrong should be able to play 45 minutes each and Mark Ramsay should be OK along with Shanks but we may have to rely on more young players to fill the gaps.

'We are fortunate we have the youngsters for without them I do not think we could have fielded a side last Saturday so short were we through injury'.

The opening play-off fixture will be next Wednesday night at Gayfield when Cowden take on Arbroath who they beat in the Scottish Cup in November. The return leg is on Saturday 3rd May at Central Park.