BOTH manager Gary Bollan and club captain Scott Rumsby are convinced that Cowdenbeath will be as prepared as possible for the two legged League 2 play-off with the winners of the Cove Rangers v Spartans Pyramid tie and can keep their place in League 2.

Cove were the favourites for last night’s second leg at Ainslie Park as they led Spartans 4-0 from the first game in Aberdeenshire, but whoever it is, the Blue Brazil will be ready for them in Saturday's first leg.

Mr Bollan put out something of a shadow squad for the last league match of the season with Annan Athletic and saw then lose two goals in the first three minutes, but then go on to pose the visitors plenty of problems.

And there were some decent contributions from fringe players who he made need to call on for the League 2 play-off.

The manager is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that his men are properly prepared for this Saturday’s first leg tie with either Cove or Spartans.

He said: “We took the decision to leave a number of players out for the Annan game to avoid suspension or injury problems but there was no excuse to be two down inside three minutes.

“Both goals were from sloppy defending and should have been prevented, but after that the team settled and started to play some better stuff and in the second period we should have had at least a couple of goals if we had taken the right options with our last pass.

“The key thing is that we are now totally focussed on these two highly important play-off games.

“We have had both teams watched and we will be giving both of them the utmost respect.

“But I feel that we have the quality to pose whoever we play real problems and that will be our aim.”

He added: “There were no injuries from Saturday’s game and we should have the opportunity to play our strongest team and with midfield players of the quality of Kyle Miller and Blair Malcolm, and front players such as Robbie Buchanan and Jordyn Sheerin, we can really hurt sides and that is what we will be setting out to do.”

Skipper Scott Rumsby added: “We feel we have a much better squad now and can get the job done.

“It will be by no means easy, we know that, but I feel we can go out and get the results over the two legs we want to ensure that we stay in the league.”

The second leg of the League 2 Play-off at Central Park on Saturday May 12 will kick-off at 2pm.