Raith Rovers 0, Cowdenbeath 2.

Betfred Cup

Attendance-634

A JORDYN SHEERIN double assured that the Blue Brazil started their Betfred Cup section with a win, at New Bayview on Saturday.

This result was built on a sound defensive performance which kept the Rovers pretty quiet.

Dave McGurn made his first appearance of the season in this one and dealt capably with everything that came his way.

He received great backing from the back four, with Jamie Pyper and David Marsh in charge of everything happening in the middle.

The midfield won the battle in that area with Kyle Miller and Blair Malcolm dominating the central area, and Brad Smith posing real problems for Rovers in the wide areas.

Sheerin was a real danger to the hosts and took his goals superbly.

David Cox and Robbie Buchanan were also posing Raith worries and were unlucky not to get their names on the scoresheet.

The game opened with Raith looking to pose problems for the Blue Brazil and Ross Matthews’ sent through a couple of good passes and Kris Duggan twice failed to bother McGurn.

At the other end Buchanan and Cox both had goes at former Cowdenbeath ‘keeper, Robbie Thomson, without any real danger for the home team.

No goals at the break but Cowden started the second period brightly and there were a few half chances for the visitors but in 62 minutes the opener came.

SHEERIN took the ball, after his effort had been blocked, and the striker to shot wide of Thomson.

Martin Scott replaced Miller immediately and Cowdenbeath were not content to sit on their lead and Scott tested Thomson while at the other end McGurn dealt with a Grant Gillespie effort and then Matthews tested the ‘keeper.

Cowden needed a second to make the result safe and got it with 12 minutes remaining when Kyle Benedictus was short with a pass-back under pressure from SHEERIN and the striker did the damage by beating Thomson to the ball and clipping it home.

Raith Rovers: Thomson (6); Watson (6), Valentine (6); Davidson (7) (Stevenson 75 (3)), Benedictus (6), Murray (6); Duggan (6), Matthews (7), Gillespie (6), Nisbet (6), McKay (6).

Cowdenbeath: Dave McGurn (7); Fraser Mullen (7), Jason Talbot (7); Jamie Pyper (7), David Marsh (7), Kyle Miller (7) (Martin Scott 75 (3)); David Cox (7) (Harvey Swann 89 (3)), Blair Malcolm (7), Jordyn Sheerin (9) (Cammy Muirhead 90 (2)), Robbie Buchanan (7).