Match Preview: Cowdenbeath v Dumbarton

Cowdenbeath host play-off hopefuls Dumbarton at Central Park on Saturday afternoon and are boosted by the return of Craig Winter to the squad.

Danny Lennon's team have had the upper hand over the Sons this season with a comprehensive 3-0 victory at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium back in September and followed that up with a 2-1 home win thanks to a double from Paul McQuade. Dumbarton gained some revenge at the start of the year with a late 2-1 win in a game that was a classic match of two halves.

"This is another important game for us with ten cup finals between now and the end of the season", commented Danny Lennon.

"We know all about Dumbarton and how good a football team they are - if they are given too much space they have the players to hurt the opposition. They are genuine play-off contenders and we know from recent experience that they are more than capable of hitting form at this stage of the season.

"However, our main focus is on how we play and making sure that we maintain the high standards we have set this season. We may not be able to compete financially with many of the clubs in this division but we have more than matched anyone on the park and the players have excelled this season, both individually and collectively, and are a credit to this football club."

A run of three consecutive home games began with the midweek draw with Alloa Athletic and the result kept the Blue Brazil within touching distance of the league leaders. Dumbarton are next up followed by a visit from Clyde on Tuesday night.

"It was a very even game on Tuesday night but we certainly created the better opportunities throughout the match. I have watched the game again and we got ourselves into some decent goalscoring including a stonewall penalty that did not go our way.

"The goal we lost was disappointing and Duff was the first to hold his hands up after the game. However, He is one of the best two or three part-time keepers in Scotland and has had another superb season. The the fact he got out of his sick bed to play on Tuesday night speaks volumes.

"Alloa are a very difficult side to breakdown, particularly once they have a lead, so I was encouraged with the reaction from the players and the deserved late goal - in fact we came very close to winning in the end."