TEENAGE defender Chris Hamilton will miss the match against Elgin City on Saturday after the club lost its appeal against the red card he received on Saturday. 

The 18-year-old, who is on loan from Hearts and plays for Scotland's under-19s, was ordered off just after the hour mark in the 4-1 defeat against Stirling Albion for serious foul play. 

Manager Gary Bollan was furious with the referee's decision and told the Times after the match that the Blue Brazil would appeal. 

He said: "Chris slid in and accidentally caught the man along with the ball. It was a foul and a yellow, but a red card was very harsh.

“You could see by the reaction of the Stirling players, they did not think it was a red card offence, so we will be submitting an appeal.”

However a fast track tribunal update today confirmed that Cowdenbeath's claim for wrongful dismissal had been rejected and he'll now miss the crunch clash at Borough Briggs. 

Bollan's men know they'll have to play a lot better to get anything out of their trip north after suffering the heaviest home loss of the season against Albion. 

Elgin went down too though with the race for a promotion place heating up.

Cowdenbeath are in third place on 36 points, Queen’s Park are fourth on 35 with Elgin fifth on 34 and Stirling next on 32.

It was only the second home defeat of the season for the Blues and Bollan was bitterly disappointed with the way his team defended against Albion.

On a difficult day for defenders in particular, with rain lashing down and a strong wind thundering across the park, the normally rock solid rearguard had a real off day and each Stirling goal came from an error.

The boss said: “As a team our defending was terrible and we gifted Stirling all four goals.

"We will have to do a lot better than that at Elgin this coming Saturday. While we were going forward well and creating a lot of chances, and their ‘keeper was making some really good saves, we handed them two goals in the first 20 minutes by hesitancy and not winning second balls.

“We scored a good goal to get back into the game but within a few minutes we were very slack with our marking at a corner and suddenly we are two in arrears at half-time.

“Within 15 minutes of the second-half we make four bad mistakes which allows the Stirling striker to get through but at that, our ‘keeper gets a strong hand to it but cannot keep it out.

"As a team it was the worst we have defended this season.”

Bollan continued: “This is a big game for us at Borough Briggs and we have to get back to defending the way we have been doing as a team for most of the season, whereby we have made teams work for goals.

"It is important we come back with a win if possible, or at least a point, as we move into a key part of the season.”

The manager hopes to have midfielder Mikey Herd fit, with his knee-knock responding to treatment. David Cox should return to front line duties after starting on the bench against Stirling.