AFTER two disappointing results Cowdenbeath simply must get on to the winning track when they play local rivals, Raith Rovers, at Central Park on Saturday.

Defeats by Livingston and Alloa Athletic have plunged Cowden into second bottom spot in the Championship and with some games coming up against the big hitters in the division in the weeks ahead, they really need to beat Rovers.

Cowden struggled to overcome the substitution situation on Saturday when Craig Johnston went on and then came off within the space of a few minutes.

There was speculation that Johnston had not been on the team sheet but club Chief Executive, Alex Anderson, cleared things up on Monday when he said, “Craig passed a late fitness test and was then added to the team sheet.

“After going on he indicated his hamstring was troubling him and he came off again. There was no question of any breach of the rules.” Mr Nicholl was more concerned about the concession of two goals after the break against Alloa..

“We had not played particularly well in the first-half but had a couple of good chances and then got hit by a deflected goal just before the break,” he said.

“We talked at half-time about starting the second period strongly, but like at Livi, we conceded two avoidable goals early in the second-half and that gave us far too much to do.

“The performance was way below standard and it was a very poor result and we need to be much better than that when we take on Raith Rovers this weekend.” Rovers have won two and lost one of their opening three Championship games but came a cropper at home to Hearts last week losing 0-4 at home.

“It will be another hard game but we have to stop making the mistakes we made on Saturday to give ourselves the chance of developing a challenge,” he added.

“We can win it but we will need everyone to be playing at their best to get the right result.” Mr Nicholl has signed Dundee striker, Kudus Oyenuga, on loan until January and he made his debut against Falkirk in Tuesday night's League Cup-tie.

He is certain to be involved in the derby with Craig Sutherland facing a lengthy spell in the sidelines after the knock he sustained against Alloa.