COWDENBEATH boss, Maurice Ross, was left scratching his head after his team gave their worst performance in some time and still managed to claim victory over Cumbernauld.

But he was pleased with the way his misfiring stars found a way to win and wants them to show that same resilience when they take on CS Strollers in Edinburgh this afternoon, the fifth placed team in the Lowland League.

The 1-0 win over Colts on Saturday moved Cowden into 13th place in the table, they stayed there after the midweek 1-1 draw with Bo'ness, and now have 18 points from 17 games. 

After the game against Cumbernauld, Ross said: “Strangely the Colts game was exactly the opposite of the previous games at Berwick and Caledonian Braves, where we had most of the possession, created good chances and lost.

“We did not play as well as in these games, but the important thing was we kept working hard and putting in a lot of hard tackles, and kept a clean sheet.

“Then we struck a fine goal late on to collect three very useful points which improved our league placing.

“We kept a clean sheet through players continuing to lead and working hard and it was just the result we needed after the two recent disappointments.”

It was sub Scott Struthers who struck the late winner and Ross knows they'll need to battle hard and take their chances in the capital.

He added: “We will need the same sort of resilience at CS Strollers this Saturday, for they have been putting together a string of good results.

"We know we can compete with them and give them a difficult game.

“Good defending will be needed again but we can make good use of our possession and create chances and hopefully come back with a good result.”

Strollers are sitting on 32 points from 17 games and while they have lost only three games they have drawn five so Cowdenbeath will look to work hard and take advantage of their chances.

There were no injuries from the Colts game but centre-back, Alfie Robinson, returned to action as a substitute Colts after being out with a leg knock and came through well, so he may well be back in the team against Strollers.