Cowdenbeath 4, Edinburgh City 1.

Ladbrokes League 2

Attendance-262

A FINE all round performance from Cowden which racked up a big win over second top City.

And the result made Cowdenbeath officially save in League 2 for another season being 15 points ahead of bottom of the pile Berwick Rangers with four games to play.

Cowden played well in the first-half and attacked strongly with Robbie Deas pushing forward from deep and posing problems for the Edinburgh City defence.

Jordan Allan was a real thorn in City’s flesh with his speed posing them problems while David Cox also was a handful for them.

However, the home defence was a little shaky at times with Jamie Todd finding the speed of Scott Shepherd difficult to cope with.

The second period was a different story with City coming out working hard in a bid to get back into the picture and they started to create more chances but Cowden were always dangerous.

Star man was striker Allan who hit a hat-trick and along with Cox were real problems that City never came to terms with.

In midfield Blair Malcolm was back to his best and his running with the ball was a real problem for City and he could well have earned a penalty in the second-half.

After the game, at Central Park on Saturday, survived a 1.30pm inspection after the morning rain left puddles on areas of the pitch, Cowdenbeath had plenty of possession in the opening stages but failed to make any chances.

However, in 14 minutes the City defence was caught out by a ball played into their box by Robbie Buchanan and ALLAN latched onto it and fired an unsaveable 12 yarder high into the net.

City looked composed in their build-up but found it hard to create an real openings although Shepherd got in a low 18 yard which went straight to McGurn.

However, in 22 minutes Blair Henderson had a great chance for City when he found space in the home box but his 14 yard shot went too high.

There was a controversial moment in 32 minutes when Todd and City’s Shepherd chased a long ball and the City striker went down but the referee saw nothing in it and play was waved on.

Three minutes from the break Cowden doubled their lead. ALLAN gathered the ball on the edge of the box and carried it two yards before firing another fine shot wide of Calum Antell.

Then a minute into the second period Cowden’s ALLAN grabbed his hat-trick when Fraser Mullen’s cross was missed by the visiting defence and the striker pulled the trigger from 12 yards.

However, six minutes later City pulled one back when Craig THOMSON let fly from all of 25 yards and it flew high past McGurn, although it did take a slight deflection.

In 65 minutes a brilliant piece of work by Deas saw him run 45 yards with the ball and set up Cox and his 16 yarder went inches wide.

However, two minutes later City sub Josh Walker also came close with a powerful 25 yarder which flew just over.

In 74 minutes a Thomson curling 25 yard free-kick hit Cowden’s left hand post and sub Ciaran Diver fired the rebound wide from only six yards out.

But in 80 minutes came the clincher for the Fifers. Buchanan crossed low into the City box and with City hesitating, COX fired a lovely curling shot past Antell.

Cowdenbeath: Dave McGurn (7); Fraser Mullen (7), Jamie Todd (6); Jamie Pyper (7), Luc Bullan (7), Robbie Deas (7); David Cox (7) (Jordyn Sheerin 84 (2)), Kyle Miller (7), Jordan Allan (9) (Gary Fraser 73 (3), Robbie Buchanan (7), Blair Malcolm (7). Subs not used, Harvey Swann, Kyle Sneddon, Ryan Connelly and Aaron Lennox.

Edinburgh City: Antell (7); Thomson (7), McIntyre (6); Black (6) (Breen 58 (3)), Balatoni (6), L Henderson (6); Shepherd (7), Watson (6), B Henderson (7), Donaldson (6) (Walker 49 (3)), Galbraith (Diver 70 (3)). Subs not used Taylor, Rodger, Lumsden and Morton.

Referee- John McKendrick (7).