SO close to coming back from Aberdeenshire with a point Cowdenbeath now have to concentrate on winning this Saturday at home against an Annan Athletic team that has started the season well.

Defeats in their two away games has the Blues in eighth spot in the table and they need to win their back-to-back home games against Annan and Brechin City to get into the position in the table they would want from their first five games.

Apart from their Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup defeat to Kelty Hearts, Annan have won two and drawn one of their League 2 games and sit third, only goal difference separating them from top side Cove.

So it will be another tough ask for the Blues but manager Gary Bollan saw plenty at Cove to please him on Saturday.

He said: “Cove are an attack minded team but we handled them pretty well but it was so galling to come back from being two down to level and then see the game lost in time added on when we conceded the key third goal.

“Connor Smith and Chris Hamilton have been catching the eye of Hearts boss Craig Levein at Tynecastle and impressing him and they were positive players for us at Cove.

“Over all I felt we deserved to get a point from the match, we came back into the game and at times in the second-half looked really dangerous.”

Looking to this week’s game he added: “We are at home and our aim is to win it.

“Annan are a very well organised side and have a few dangerous players but then so do we and I believe we can win it if we play as solidly as we did against Stirling in our previous home game.”

The manager hopes that injuries to Jordan Allan, Kris Renton, Harvey Swann and Jamie Pyper clear up in time for the match to give him a full squad to choose from. And 'keeper Kevin Dabrowski (pictured with the man of the match award against Hearts) wants to get his third home shut-out of the season in all competitions.

Mr Bollan was pleased to conclude negotiations with Hearts and sign two of the Tynecastle club's young stars on loan until the January transfer window and both in the squad for the trip to Cove Rangers.

The duo that arrived at Central Park were Chris Hamilton and Connor Smith - both of whom are local lads.

Chris (18) is a defender and he has played for Scotland at under 21 level. He lives in Kelty and attended Crossgates Primary and Beath High schools before going on to the SFA Performance School at Broughton High in Edinburgh. Chris made his first team debut towards the end of season 2017/18 and also had a loan spell at Berwick Rangers early last season.

Connor Smith (17), is from Cowdenbeath, and is the younger brother of Dunfermline striker Callum Smith.

He is an attacking central midfielder and also a graduate of the SFA Performance School at Broughton High.

He was previously a pupil at Broad Street and Beath High Schools. Connor has captained Scotland at under 17 level and made his mark in the Hearts first team with a fine display in the derby match v Hibs at the end of last season.