Cowdenbeath 1, Arbroath 1.

William Hill Scottish Cup Third Round Attendance-409 THE sides will have to do it all again this Saturday after fighting out a draw in horrendous weather conditions.

But the Fifers had to battle back into the tie, at Central Park on Saturday, to earn a second chance of making round four.

It may have been having the gale behind them in the first period but the Blue Brazil simply did not play at all in this phase of the game.

Against the wind they played a lot better and were definitely in the game going into the closing stages and could have won it.

But the fact is that had it not been for Jamie Sneddon the home side could have been out of the competition. He made several excellent stops, especially in 1v1 situations with Bobby Linn, who just could not get the ball past the teenager.

In the second minute the Lichties’ Linn’s 20 yard low left foot drive was held by Sneddon.

As the visitors continued to open the game well their skipper Mark Whatley volleyed over after a good move.

With 20 minutes gone Darren Ramsay forced an excellent diving save from a fierce left foot drive but the Blues went close when Andy Murdoch hit a 20 yarder which Allan Fleming finger-tipped over on the half-hour. Then Gordon Smith’s flick brought out a brave one handed save from the former Cowden and Kelty Hearts last line.

The second-half opened with the Lichties having a good spell and they took the lead in 55 minutes. The home team failed to clear a Jordan Lowden free-kick and WHATLEY fired a 20 yard first-time shot low into the net.

Kyle Miller blazed over from a good position at the edge of the Lichties box then the Blues made a double substitution as they tried to get back into the game, but as the weather worsened, with torrential rain sweeping the pitch, it looked like another bad cup performance from them.

However, things changed with 15 minutes to go when a Donaldson cross was met by sub Craig JOHNSTON and his glancing header flew over Fleming to square the tie. It was his first goal for the first team. Then seconds later a Miller drive hit the bar.

But the Lichties were not finished and with 10 minutes left Sneddon had to rush from his line to block Linn’s low shot.

At the other end, though, Adamson went clean through only to shoot over with just Fleming to beat as the game had an exciting finale.

Cowdenbeath: Jamie Sneddon (7); Brad Donaldson (6), Kenny Adamson (6); Fraser Kerr (6), Ali El Zubaidi (6), Kyle Miller (6); Dean Brett (6) (Chris Kane 65 (3)), Andy Murdoch (7), Greig Spence (7), Gordon Smith (6), Liam Callaghan (6) (Craig Johnston 65 (4)). Subs not used: Pat Scullion, Declan Hughes, Sam Orritt, Luke Armstrong and Shaun Hunter.

Arbroath: Fleming (7); Wilson (6), Lowdon (7); Little (7), Munro (6), Whatley (7); Linn (8), Gold (6) (Clarke 83 (3)), Rutherford (7), Watson (6), Ramsay (6). Subs not used: Grehan, Clarke, McWalter, Hunter and Brodie.

Referee-Brian Colvin (6).