Cowdenbeath 0, Falkirk 1.

SPFL Championship Attendance-565 COWDENBEATH’S woes in the Championship relegation battle continued last night as they failed to score for the sixth successive home game.

Falkirk seldom looked like hitting the net either in a dour game but the Bairns got the vital goal to take the three points and move to within one point of fellow promotion play-off challengers Queen of the South.

For the home side they are still level with Alloa on 19 points but lie second bottom through their much inferior goal difference and a black night was made worse when they finished with ten men after Kenny Adamson’s late dismissal.

Cowdenbeath certainly competed with a team which is chasing a promoption play-offs spot but they failed to really create many openings.

Colin Nish and Sean Higgins looked capable of posing the visitors problems but the supply line just was not there.

The midfield were easily stifled by the hardworking Bairns who took avantage of more bad defending by Cowden to win the game.

Cowden opened positively and a long cross from Lewis Toshney was headed on by Colin Nish but Declan Hughes’ finish lacked pace and Jamie MacDonald gathered.

That was the only real action in the opening 15 minutes as both sides struggled to put together telling moves but in 19 minutes the home side got in the first meaningful effort when Nish’s nod-on fell for Hughes and his 20 yarder produced a fine diving save from MacDonald.

Falkirk went down the left in 25 minutes and a fine cross by Luke Leahy looked good for Botti Biabi but the striker mistimed his run and with the goal gaping the ball rolled out for a throw.

But then at the other end Bairns defender Will Vaulks got in a fankle, with Nish and Hughes threatening from Sean Higgins’ lay-off, and in attempting to clear the defender hit his own post. Five minutes from the break Falkirk threatened when Tom Taiwo’s long pass gave John Baird space on the edge of the home box but he dragged his shot wide.

A neat piece of work by Higgins three minutes into the second period saw Vaulks have to put in a last ditch tackle which saw the ball deflected for a corner.

But in 52 minutes the breakthrough came for the Bairns. Taiwo got space on the right and his cross was perfect for Baird to head past Robbie Thomson from 10 yards range.

Then as Falkirk stepped up their game Biabi got away from Armstrong but his low 17 yarder was held by Thomson.

With 13 minutes to go Falkirk threatened again when sub Alex Cooper sent over a lovely cross from the left but Thomson dived to smother the ball on his line with with Biabi waiting for a mistake.

Cowden’s last hope disappeared with seven minutes left when Kenny Adamson was red carded for a what looked a hard tackle on Baird on the half-way line but hardly a sending-off.

Cowdenbeath: RobbieThomson (7); Lewis Toshney (5), Kenny Adamson (6) ; Thomas O’Brien (5), John Armstrong (7), Nat Wedderburn (7); Jon Robertson (6), Colin Marshall (6) (Kudus Oyenuga 64 (3)), Coln Nish (6), Sean Higgins (6), Declan Hughes (6) (Robbie Buchanan 84 (2)). Subs not used Kyle, Miller, Darren Brownlie, Lewis Milne, Chris Kane, and Jamie Sneddon.

Falkirk: MacDonald (7); Duffie (6), Leahy (7); Vaulks (6), Grant (7), Alston ((7); Taiwo (6), Kerr (6) (Cooper 54 (3)), Baird (8), Biabi (7), Sibbald (6). Subs not used, Smith, Dick, Maybury, Blair, Morgan and Bowman.

Referee-Kevin Graham (6).