Cowdenbeath 1, Annan Athletic 3.

Cinch League 2

Attendance-282

WHAT a disappointment this turned out to be for the home fans on Saturday.

Cowden could have been three or four up at the interval, but one or two bad misses cost them, although to be fair to Annan they cleared three home opportunities off the line during the 90 minutes.

The second period saw the Blues hand the Athletic a cheap equaliser, when Kris Renton needlessly pushed midfielder Tony Wallace in the box after winning the header at an Annan corner then poor marking cost them a second goal only a few minutes later.

So after dominating the first 45 minutes Cowdenbeath found themselves behind very early in the second period and never recovered their earlier fluency.

The game kicked-off after a minute’s silence for fan and super fundraiser for the Blue Brazil Zoe Smith, who died suddenly last week aged just 36.

Cowden were denied by the Annan ‘keeper twice in the first three minutes when Fraser Mullen ‘s cross was met by Kyle Miller and Greg Fleming finger-tipped the ball over, then from the corner Liam Buchanan saw the ‘keeper make another fine save.

However, in four minutes there was nothing he could do to stop Robbie BUCHANNAN opening the scoring when Quinn Coulson created the opening down the left and his pass was fired home by the midfielder from close in.

Cowden kept moving forward with Liam Buchanan putting together some nice moves and from one of them Kris Renton shot inches wide from 12 yards.

Then in 20 minutes a Renton flick beat Fleming but Matt Douglas got behind the ‘keeper to hook the ball off the line.

Aidan Smith and Iain Anderson combined for Annan and the former’s cross saw Gill’s punch lack authority and the ball rolled just wide, but in 34 minutes at the other end Fraser Mullen’s cross was perfect for the unmarked Coulson only 12 yards out with just Fleming to beat, but he fluffed his shot and Fleming saved.

Two minutes from the break there was another chance for Cowden when Craig Thomson’s free-kick was met by Craig Barr only six yards out but he miscued his header wide.

Cowden made a bad start to the second period conceding a penalty in 48 minutes when Renton needlessly pushed Tony Wallace in the back and WALLACE converted from the spot.

Then three minutes later the Blues went behind when a corner situation was not picked up by the home defence and the unmarked ANDERSON headed past Gill.

Cowden completely lost their momentum and Douglas’s header went inches over from eight yards.

However, with 18 minutes to go Mullen’s cross from the right was met by Liam Buchanan and his header landed on top of the Annan net and then a minute later the striker’s shot beat Fleming but a diving Jordan Lowdon cleared the ball off the line.

But with ten minutes left the visitors grabbed a third when WALLACE fired a 22 yarder into the corner of the net after being given too much time by home defenders.

Cowdenbeath: Cammy Gill (6); Fraser Mullen (6), Craig Thomson (7); Jamie Todd (6), Craig Barr (6), Kyle Miller (6)(Harvey Swann 70 (3)); Robbie Buchanan (7), Kyle Hutton (6), Kris Renton (6), Liam Buchanan (7), Quinn Coulson (6) (Luke Mahady 85 (2)). Subs not used, Ross Pollock, Lennon Watson, James Collins and Dave McGurn (gk).

Annan Athletic: G Fleming (7); Barnes (6), Lowdon (6); Moxon (7), Douglas (7), Swinglehurst (7); Wallace (7) (McCartney 80 (2)), Docherty (7) (K Fleming 76 (3)), Smith (8) (Birch 80 (2)), I Anderson (7) (Goss 76 (3)), Johnston (7). Subs not used,Hunter, Purdue, Steele and G Anderson (gk).