COWDENBEATH have a big test this weekend when they play the team just above them in the table, Edinburgh City, away from home.

The statistics show that from Cowden’s nine home games they have 22 points, but only seven on the road.

They are clear third in the table, five points ahead of Annan Athletic and as manager Gary Bollan observed after the win over Stenhousemuir, if they could take some of the home form on the road they could be up with City and leaders Cove Rangers.

But the manager was delighted with the win on Saturday, especially as he went into the match without strikers David Cox and Kris Renton, and suspended midfielder Robbie Buchanan.

He said: “For me that was an outstanding performance by the lads.

“We created a lot of very good chances and could really have won by more and it was great to see Jordan Allan get a goal along with a strike from Mikey Herd, for they deserved to hit the target with the input they made.

“It was also excellent to have Fraser Mullen back for the first time in three months and Kyle Miller in the side again after his back problems and overall it was a very good team effort.”

Mr Bollan added: “I said way back at the start of the season that I wanted us to make Central Park a fortress and 22 points from nine games is a very good record.

“We could do with taking a lot more of the home form on the road for our away record has been a little disappointing.

“However, if we can start getting wins on the road this weekend at Edinburgh City it would be ideal because it would close the gap between us and City to six points with a game in hand.”

Craig Barr, who has been captaining the side, agreed: “That was very positive home performance from us but a few of our away shows have been well below that and we have start being more consistent on the road.

“I felt we played very well against Stenny and we were worth the three points which keeps us up there.”

David Cox will be back from suspension as will Robbie Buchanan so the manager will have to look at how he sets the team up for a potentially very difficult game at Ainslie Park.

Without Kevin Dabrowski, who has a knee complaint, he will again look to have Peter Morrison on loan from Motherwell, who amazingly has played in four straight wins for the Blues.

He could go with the same line-up which beat Stenny, or he may be tempted to bring back the dangerous Cox up front with Allan.

It is likely he will start with the same back five he had against Stenny, with Mullen and Harvey Swann flanking Chris Hamilton, Barr and Jamie Todd.