Berwick Rangers 0, Cowdenbeath 3.

Ladbrokes League 2

Attendance-477

COWDEN’s first away win of the season and a result they deserved against a Rangers team that completely lost their discipline.

On a freezing Saturday afternoon at Shielfield, Cowden produced some really hot stuff which had Berwick in trouble time and time again.

The hosts lost John Neill early in the game for an off the ball incident and they totally lost the plot the longer play went on.

Cowdenbeath kept their cool and used their extra players to completely outplay Rangers and in the process claim their first win on the road.

The Blues had emergency loan signing from Livingston, Gary Maley, in goal for the suspended Dave McGurn but he was seldom bothered as the solid visiting defence kept Berwick at bay.

For the second successive game David Marsh and Jamie Pyper were in control in the middle and full-backs Fraser Mullen and Robbie Deas went forward at will posing real problems for the Berwick defence.

Blair Malcolm and Kyle Miller had a strong day in the centre of midfield and Harvey Swann and David Cox asked questions of the Rangers rearguard in the wide areas while both Swann and Mullen also hit the target for the first time in the league this season.

Kris Renton got the nod in this one for his good performance in the closing stages of the cup tie with Clyde and he again worked really hard and came close to getting a goal while Martin Scott again showed a lot of trickery.

Berwick won in the cup last week and wanted to start the game well but found it hard to make much progress against the Cowdenbeath midfield.

The Blues created a couple of half chances with Renton and Cox testing ‘keeper Sean Brennan and then the game exploded when Neill, after 16 minutes, clashed with Cox off the ball.

He was sent-off and Cowdenbeath could sense the home side was starting to really struggle and in they took the lead when Berwick could do nothing to stop SWANN firing the Blues ahead with a fierce finish after good build up work by Renton.

The visitors were looking for more and Renton again let fly but was off target and Marsh was up for a set piece and his header drifted over.

Then came number two when Cox was hauled down in the box, and with Jordyn Sheerin on the bench, SWANN stepped up and did his usual reliable job from the spot.

Berwick avoided further damage before the break but in the second period things got worse for Rangers.

Robert Wilson, who had been red carded at Central Park earlier in the season was sent packing again and then Chris Hamilton suffered the same fate for poor challenges.

Cowdenbeath refused to be intimated and went about their business effectively and created several chances which saw Brennan pull off several good saves but in the closing minutes he had to admit defeat when MULLEN’s fierce shot roared past the ‘keeper.

Berwick Rangers: Brennan (7); Orru (6), Hamilton (4); O’Kane (6), Wilson (4), Phillips (7) (Ogilvie (2)); Willis (7), Scott (6) (Murphy 72), Neill (4), Hurst (6), Brown (6). Subs not used, Healy and Dabrowksi.

Cowdenbeath: Gary Maley (7); Fraser Mullen (7), Robbie Deas (7); David Marsh (7), Jamie Pyper (7), Kyle Miller (7) (Harris Kay (2)); David Cox (7) (Josh Skelly (3)), Blair Malcolm (7), Kris Renton (7), Martin Scott (7) (Jordyn Sheerin (2)), Harvey Swann (8). Subs not used, Mark Fotheringham, Robbie Buchanan, Pat Scullion and Ryan Goodfellow.

Referee-Alan Newlands (6).