COWDENBEATH boss Gary Bollan was most unhappy with the way his side started the game against Queen’s Park and is wanting a lot better when the Blue Brazil got to face league leaders Peterhead this weekend.

The manager felt that his team seemed to start in third gear and never got going at all in the first 45 minutes.

While he was happier with the second-half he is wanting to see more of that in the last six games of the season.

He said this week: “The first 20 minutes of the game really was unacceptable.

“We were sluggish, there was no pattern to our play and the fluidity was totally missing.

“We were aimlessly giving the ball away and it took some good work by Dave McGurn to keep us level.

“In the second period things improved and we created a few good chances and could have sneaked it, but the first 45 minutes was simply not good enough.”

The manager made it plain that while some may think that the season is now on the wind down, there are 18 points left to win between now and May 4.

He added: “It is high time we started stringing together some wins because we have only managed two draws from our last six games and that is not good enough.

“We are going to be playing teams who have plenty to play for in the closing games and I am expecting our players to compete fully with them and get results.

“Peterhead will be a very difficult task, but there is a lot of pressure on them as Edinburgh City and Clyde chase them, and it is up to us to match them in terms of competitiveness”

With striker Matt Henvey being allowed to go back to Dundee, and Jason Talbot almost certainly out for the rest of the season through the injury sustained in the Scottish Cup-tie against Rangers, the Blues are a little short on players for the closing fixtures.

“Matt felt he need more starts and that was something we could not guarantee him so he has returned to Dundee but we have the players here who showed for six weeks at the start of the year how they could compete with all the teams in this division.

“That is the form I want our players to show in the coming weeks for we have to look to win three or four more games, that is very important.”

With Dave McGurn doing well in goal on Saturday, he will keep his place for the trip to Peterhead despite Aaron Lennox returning from his emergency week long return to Partick Thistle for their game on Friday night, and Robbie Deas will be back in defence after appearing for Scotland 19s and scoring a goal!

The team will have to be at their best to get anything from Balmoor but with David Cox (pictured) and Kris Renton looking in good form against Queen’s Park, despite the patchy supply chain, on Saturday Cowden could cause a shock this weekend.