Cowdenbeath 2, Forfar Athletic 1.

Ladbrokes SPFL League One.

Attendance-443

AN inspired performance saw Cowden unseat Forfar Athletic from the top of the table and move themselves out of the bottom two.

Cowdenbeath are certainly starting to make Central Park a bit of a citadel, with a series of good results on home turf, and this certainly was their best performance.

At Central Park on Saturday the Blue Brazil defended very solidly, with Pat Scullion and Ali El Zubaidi, keeping strong tabs on Forfar’s dangerous front two, Gavin Swankie and Chris Templeman.

Full-backs Kenny Adamson and Dean Brett were also stalwarts while in midfield Declan Hughes and Andy Murdoch create a lot of good openings with their accurate passing.

Gordon Smith again looked the part on the right hand side and scored a good goal as well as creating the winner with a pin-point cross.

Greig Spence played a loan hand in attack, with support from Kyle Miller, and was a constant threat to the Loons and it was worthy he should score the winner.

Forfar made the early running and in five minutes good work by home skipper Scullion saw him block Chris Templeman’s header, then two minutes later a fierce 30 yard free-kick from Iain Campbell struck the top the Cowden bar. Two minutes later Chris Templeman’s close range shot was blocked by Scullion.

On the 15 minute mark good work by Spence saw Brett get a chance but he dragged the ball wide from 12 yards.

Then the home side struck in the 28th minute. Murdoch did the spadework and Spence laid the ball back to SMITH lying in the perfect position to blast the ball high past Scott Gallacher, from 12 yards.

Two minutes from the break Spence should have made it 2-0 when he got clear of the Loons’ cover but a last ditch Kevin Nicoll tackled deflected the ball over for a corner.

The Loons were level, however, four minutes after the break. Martyn Fotheringtham combined with Bryan Hodge and Gavin SWANKIE made a clinical job of his 14 yard finish.

Then five minutes later Jamie Sneddon came to the rescue with a diving save at the feet of Swankie but then Spence tested Gallacher with a close-in header from a Brett cross then on the hour Scullion’s glancing header went inches wide.

In 66 minutes Sam Orritt had to go off with a nose injury, after putting in a good first hour, which saw the home midfield shape change.

However, in 71 minutes the Blues took the lead again. Smith made the goal with a lovely cross and SPENCE fired a 12 yard header wide of Gallacher.

There were several hard challenges as the Loons desperately tried to get back on terms but Cowden threatened again through sub Robbie Buchanan and Spence, but the Loons were not for giving up and in the closing minutes Swankie fired in an 18 yarder which Sneddon dealt with expertly to ensure a home win.

Cowdenbeath: Jamie Sneddon (7); Dean Brett (7), Kenny Adamson (7); Pat Scullion (8), Ali El Zubaidi (8), Declan Hughes (7); Gordon Smith (7), Andy Murdoch (7), Greig Spence (9), Kyle Miller (7) (Robbie Buchanan 75 (3)), Sam Orritt (7) (Liam Callaghan 66 (4)). Subs not used, Cameron Muirhead, John Armstrong, Chris Kane, and Shaun Hunter.

Forfar Athletic: Gallacher (7); Travis (6), Nicoll (7), O’Brien (7) Campbell (6); Black (6), Fotheringham (7) (Allan 75 (2)), Hodge (6), Denholm (7) (Smith 75 (2)); Swankie (7), Templeman (6) (Hay 75 (2)) . Subs not used, Dunlop, Yates, Clark and King.

Referee- Gavin Duncan (6).