Cowdenbeath 1, Brechin City 3 (after extra-time).

Petrofac Training Cup first round Attendance-294.

COWDEN produced a poor second-half showing to allow League One City to take this tie into extra-time.

And there they grabbed the two goals which put Cowdenbeath out of the tournament for the second year in a row at the first round stage.

Following a very bright start to the match, at Central Park on Saturday, Cowden started to lose their way after the interval whistle although the first and second City goals were avoidable.

Robbie Thomson got the nod ahead of Thomas Flynn for this game but would be unhappy at the way the first two Brechin goals went in.

At the rear Cowdenbeath coped pretty well in the first-half, but the longer the game went the more sloppy they became with some of the errors simply not good enough.

The midfield also struggled to create too many good openings without Lewis Milne, but Sammy Stewart put in a power of work and did his cause no harm at all.

In attack new striker Craig Sutherland made a good start to the game but he ran out of ideas and was subbed. All in all not a good start to the competitive stuff for Cowden.

The game started in a downpour and City had a chance in three minutes when Nat Wedderburn slipped and presented a chance to Andy Jackson who fired a left foot 18 yarder just over.

However, in 13 minutes the hosts took the lead. A nice move down the left saw Sean HIGGINS hold off Paul McLean’s challenge and then cleverly beat the defender before firing a low right foot shot past ‘keeper Graeme Smith from eight yards range.

And then there was a chance for Robertson five minutes later, when Stewart provided the pass, and he blasted inches over from the edge of the box.

City tried hard to force their way into the game and in 28 minutes Jackson got his head to a cross from Colin Hamilton but the ball was grabbed by Cowden ‘keeper Thomson, then Gary Fusco fired a 25 yarder over.

Five minutes from the break Jamie McCormack’s long cross split the Cowden defence but Jackson headed wide from a good position.

The Blues came close to adding to their tally in 50 minutes when Thomas O’Brien latched on to Robertson’s cross and the big defender fired in a low shot which produced a top class diving save from Smith.

After a quiet spell City levelled the game after 68 minutes. Sub Robert THOMSON fired in a 16 yarder after a Robertson pass cannoned of O’Brien and ‘keeper Thomson dived over the ball and it hit the back of the net.

Craig Johnston replaced O’Brien and almost immediately the front man sent in a low shot which the ‘keeper deflected and Higgins should have netted from five yards out.

City almost grabbed a second with 10 minutes left when Thomson burst into the box and his low shot was blocked by the Cowden ‘keeper and Miller completed the clearance.

There were no more goals and the tie went into extra-time and three minutes into it City took the lead when Thomson made a hash of dealing with a tame Ross Brash shot and Alan TROUTEN poked the ball home from close in.

Johnston almost levelled things five minutes later when his shot was cleared off the line by Jamie McCormack and in the 108th minute City wrapped up the win when Ryan FERGUSON’s shot took a deflection and flew into the net.

Cowdenbeath: Robbie Thomson (5); Thomson O’Brien (6) ( Craig Johnston (3) 72), John Armstrong (6), Nat Wedderburn (7); Kyle Miller (6), Jon Robertson (5), Chris Kane (5) (Iain Campbell 98) (3), Sammy Stewart (6), Kenny Adamson (6); Craig Sutherland (5) (Darren Brownlie 86) and Sean Higgins (6). Subs not used, Aaron Lynas, Jack Wright, Liam Callaghan and Thomas Flynn.

Brechin City: Smith (7); J McCormack (6), Hamilton (6); McLean ()7), D McCormack (8), Fusco (6) (Thomson 67 (4)); Trouten (6), Molloy (6), A Jackson (6), Tapping (6) (Brash 74 (3)), Barr (6) (Ferguson 70 (3)). Subs not used, S Jackson, McLauchlan, and Tough.

Referee-Gavin Duncan (6).