Academy update

The under 13s are in friendly action on Sunday (4th April) when they take on American opponents that come under the auspices of Maryland Olympic Development Programme.  The game takes place at Stirling University with a 2.30pm kick off.

Meanwhile, the U13s travelled to the venue of their very first Youth Initiative match with only 10 fit outfield players and 2 goalkeepers but produced their finest performance of the season so far.

Cowden dominated the game with Connor Mclaren and Tyler Connachan missing 2 early chances to take the lead in the first period and producing some fine saves from the Clyde keeper.

The ever strong Clyde youths kept Cowden at bay until halfway through the first period when Tyler Connachan opened the scoring before Connor Mclaren managed to out fox the Clyde defence and score direct from a corner kick.

Cowdens defence held firm and were put under pressure from a very strong Clyde team who played some great attacking football.

Connachan managed to breach the Clyde defence once again and fired home from 16 yards with an unstoppable shot before Connor Mclaren scored his second goal of the game. Clyde came back very strong and fought hard breaching the Cowden defence and setting up a final 15 minutes which saw both teams come very close with some great attacking football.

The final 5 minutes saw Jack Pullar capitalise on a defence slip to square the ball to Tyler Connachan who steered the ball into the net from 3 yards to finish off his hat-trick.

Coach Gary Miller said: "This was without a doubt our best performance of the season against a very good Clyde team, who have proved very difficult opponents in the past.

"We have been worked on our passing and possession at training tirelessly and our fitness has also improved over the last few weeks. However the boys were tired after their exertions especially not having any outfield substitutions.

"There wasn't a poor performance in the team and everyone excelled. Both Ian Kinnear and I are pleased with the players development and we will be concentrating on our shape over the coming weeks which is one of the areas we need to improve on.

"Lastly a special mention to young Reg Mclaren who at 11 years old and playing 2 years above his own age group worked tirelessly all day. He was instrumental in a couple of the goals scored which is very encouraging for the Cowdenbeath Youth Academy.".