Cowdenbeath 2, Berwick Rangers 0.

Ladbrokes League 2

Attendance-384

A GOOD hard working win for Cowdenbeath which ended their short losing streak.

The first period, at Central Park on Saturday, saw the Blues create a lot of chances but some indifferent finishing saw the score stay level right to the interval whistle.

Cowden did defend well though and Berwick’s clear chances were few although in the second period one or two unforced errors crept into the play.

However, a second goal around the hour mark settled the Blues and a red card for the visitors’ Ross Brown gave them too much of a mountain to climb.

Cowden’s defence was the strongest element of the team keeping a tab on the visiting attack with Jamie Pyper and David Marsh rock solid.

The attack saw David Cox a real thorn in the Berwick flesh and he scored one and was fouled for the penalty which led to the second goal, while Kris Renton did a lot of fetching and carrying for the cause.

In midfield Kyle Miller and Gary Fraser controlled much of the game while Robbie Buchanan and Jordan Allan also made good contributions.

Cowdenbeath made a good start and in the first minute a Fraser Mullen corner caused problems for Berwick and Renton and Fraser saw shots blocked.

Then in seven minutes Renton sent Cox into the box and his fierce 18 yarder went just over before a deep Mullen cross was met by Cox but his header rolled wide.

Aaron Murrell caused bother with a neat pass along the edge of the Cowden six yard box but there was no one to finish then on the half hour John Neill got space in the Cowdenbeath box and his low 14 yarder was brilliantly saved by Dave McGurn.

Nine minutes from the break Cowden came close when a slack clearance went to Buchanan 20 yards out and his right foot shot went just wide then two minutes from the break Cox’s left foot 18 yarder crept past the post.

But in the 45th minute Cowdenbeath grabbed the lead. Allan’s cross was turned back across the face of the Berwick goal by Buchanan and COX slammed the ball low into the net from close in.

Berwick came close seven minutes into the second period when a ball into the box was latched onto by Lewis Barr and his shot just went over.

Cowden stretched the lead in 61 minutes. Cox was fouled as he made ground into the Rangers box and the referee pointed to the spot with Harvey SWANN making an expert job of the conversion.

Then five minutes later Rangers’ were down to ten men when Ross Brown was given a straight red for an off the ball incident.

However, with three minutes left Berwick went close with a raking drive from sub Ousman See which went inches wide but Allan should have scored a third for Cowden when clear in the Rangers box through but he fired wide

Cowdenbeath: Dave McGurn (7); Fraser Mullen (6), Harvey Swann (6); Jamie Pyper (7), David Marsh (7), Kyle Miller (6) (Kyle Sneddon 75 (3)); David Cox (8) (Jordyn Sheerin 85 (2)), Jordan Allan (7), Kris Renton (7), Gary Fraser (6), Robbie Buchanan (7). Subs not used, Pat Scullion, Martin Scott, Josh Skelly, Blair Malcolm and Ryan Goodfellow.

Berwick Rangers: Allison (7); Forbes (6), Orru (6); Hume (7), Wilson (7) (Knox 69 (3)), Ogilvie (6); Cook (7), Barr (6), Murrell (7) (Rose 53 (3)), Neill (7) (See 85 (2)), Brown (6). Subs not used, Hamilton, Phillips, McIlduff and Brennan.

Referee-Gavin Duncan (6).