Match Preview: Dunfermline Ath v Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath FC and Dunfermline Athletic FC have come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will see the Blue Brazil make the short journey to local rivals Dunfermline Athletic on Wednesday 29th December (kick off 7.30pm) for the 2nd derby between the 2 sides this season.

Cowden have only seen competitive action once since the 20th of November due to the weather and Jimmy Nicholl hopes to have a full squad to choose from - with the exception of long-term injured pair Dene Droudge and Danny Mackay - for the trip to East End Park.

The Pars run out 2-1 winners at East End Park earlier in the season after goals from Steven Bell and Joe Cardle cancelled out John Dempster’s early opener for us. It was a bitter blow for the large Cowden support at the game as an excellent first half performance gave Cowden a worthy lead. In the end though few could dispute that Dunfermline didn’t deserve the 3 points over the 90 minutes.

Dunfermline currently sit top of the league with a narrow advantage over Dundee and fellow Fife side Raith Rovers. It’s a daunting task for Cowden as the Pars haven’t lost a league game at East End since their 2-1 defeat on the 3rd of April against Ross County. In fact they have the most points per home game in the league this year with 2.5 – while our away form sits at 0.85 and we also on average concede 2.28 goals per away game.

Our last win away was back at the start of September where we won 2-1 against Morton with goals from Dempster and the SFL goal of the month from Mark Ramsay. Since then we have suffered defeats at Dunfermline, Falkirk, Partick, Queen of the South, Peterhead and Dundee in our last match.

The recent history between the 2 sides shows that we haven’t beaten our rivals since 1993 where 2 goals from former Dunfermline player Willie Callaghan saw us run out 2-0 winners in a game that is still discussed amongst Cowdenbeath fans today – after 33 games without a win a win away at local rivals was clearly going to be a famous day. Since then 2 cup defeats (a narrow 2-1 defeat at Central Park in a game remembered for a stunning John ‘chalky’ Elliot goal, and a 2-0 defeat at East End) and the previously mentioned league match has seen the Pars have local bragging rights. Any points on the board today would be out first against them in 17 years.

It shall be a big game for many of the players on both sides – for the Pars Pat Clarke is fondly remembered for his goal scoring exploits under Mixu Paatelainen at Central Park a couple of years ago (including scoring 5 goals in a 6-1 away mauling of Stranraer) while Davie Hay and Lee Sibanda go up against their former club. The omens look bad with our last 2 games on the 29th of December seeing 2 losses – a George Shaw double (before strangely getting sent off in the dying seconds over a throw in) saw Stranraer win 2-1 in 2001 while Andy Bagshaw scored the only goal of the game as Peterhead squeezed home against us in 2007. Clearly in the 21st century this has not been a happy day for Cowdenbeath fans.

Can Cowden overcome their recent troubles on this day and produce a stirring performance that will be spoken about for years alongside famous games such as the Callaghan double previously discussed. Time shall tell.

Match of the day fact of the week – this game will take place on Cowdenbeath director David Allan’s birthday. Let’s all hope that he gets his perfect birthday present.

This fixture has been brought forward from Saturday 12th February 2011 which has allowed the postponed November game to be re-arranged for Central Park on this weekend date rather than a midweek. Tickets purchased for the original date on the 27th of November will be valid for the game on the 12th of February.The re-arranged fixtures are as follows:

• Wednesday 29th December 2010 - Dunfermline Athletic v Cowdenbeath, East End Park, kick off 7.30pm
• Saturday 12th February 2011 - Cowdenbeath v Dunfermline Athletic, Central Park, kick off 3pm

Central Park will now host a Fife derby double header in February with the Pars due to visit on the 12th and Raith Rovers on the 19th.