Annan Athletic 0, Cowdenbeath 0.

Labrokes League 2

Attendance-299

A POINT on the road but Cowdenbeath were looking for more than that at Galabank on Saturday.

Cowden had chances to grab all three points but their finishing was lacking that necessary clinical touch.

Defensively the Blues were solid again. Josh Rae had a couple of important stops at the right time and in general was solid while full-backs Fraser Mullen and Harvey Swann seldom put a foot wrong.

In the centre of the defence Craig Barr and Jamie Todd kept a close grip on the Annan strike force, while when needed, Kyle Miller was back helping out as was Robbie Buchanan and Archie Thomas.

There was not really a lot happening for either front line in this game, although David Cox and Kris Renton both had shots on target, but they could not get the goal they needed.

The opening stages were pretty quiet and the first real danger did not come until the 17th minutes when Annan’s Steven Swinglehurst headed wide from a decent area.

Two minutes later Cowden got going and Thomas tried his luck from all of 24 yards only to see it well saved by Alex Mitchell.

Within a minute at the other end Lewis McLear got in a 20 yarder which saw Rae make a fine save, then in 24 minutes Kyle Wilkie fouled Buchanan and Mullen’s free-kick was just inches too high.

Ten minutes later Tommy Muir saw his low 20 yarder blocked by Barr, but before the break Cox saw his 22 yarder superbly saved by Mitchell.

The second period saw neither side really pose the defences problems in the opening 20 minutes but just on the 65 mark Cowden got really the first shot of the half away when Buchanan saw his effort go inches wide.

Annan were being well held by the Cowden midfield and really Rae was a spectator for long spells, but with 15 minutes left Annan defender Swinglehurst was up for a free-kick and his header went wide.

A foul by Peter Watson on Cowden sub Jordan Allan saw another free-kick situation on the edge of the Annan box, but again Mullen leaned back on striking the ball and put it over.

With ten minutes to go the home side’s McLear tried his luck from around 30 yards in a bid to break the deadlock but his effort flew well over.

But two minutes later Wilkie got space on the edge of the Cowden box, however, from a good position he dragged his finish wide.

Cowden went out to get a late winner and Allan created the chance for himself with a fierce left foot angled shot which Mitchell saved well, but at the other end Wilkie saw Rae grab his 19 yarder.

In the closing seconds twice Cowden forced two corners but they just could not get the winner.

Annan Athletic: Mitchell (7); Hewitt (6), Clark (6); Docherty (7), Watson (7), Swinglehurst (7); Joseph (6), Wilkie (7), Muir (6) (Nade 71 (3)), McLear (6), Bradley (6). Subs not used, Sonkur, Ballantyne, McLean, Wooding-Holt, Barr and Avci.

Cowdenbeath: Josh Rae (7); Fraser Mullen (7), Harvey Swann (7); Jamie Todd (7), Craig Barr (7), Kyle Miller (8); David Cox (6), Robbie Buchanan (7), Graham Taylor (6) (Jordan Allan 69 (3), Archie Thomas (7), Kris Renton (6). Subs not used, Euan Valentine, Jamie Pyper, Mikey Herd, Chris Hamilton, Jordyn Sheerin and Mac Whyte.

Referee- Stewart Luke (6).