Match Preview: Ross County v Cowdenbeath

Cowden make the long journey North on Saturday to take on Ross County in a re-arranged fixture.

With the team having barely played any games in the past couple of months it'll be a tough ask for Jimmy Nicholl's side to overcome their Highland opponents, but the squad will be boosted by the addition of recent signings Archie Campbell, Stevie Crawford and Lee Makel. Meanwhile, the injury list has decreased with Joe Mbu and Kenny Adamson back in contention.

"The three new lads are in the squad for the weekend", said Nicholl

"I was hoping to add another but I'm unlikely to know anymore until next week as the player in questions has a number of options to consider.

"We trained in horrendous conditions at Central Park tonight but I was very pleased with what I saw. The new boys have settled in well and we have a number of players coming back from injury so there is more strength in depth.

"We have good players here so we now just need the weather to give us a break and the rub of the green to get our season back on track."

Visit Kick Talk radio for more pre-match analysis with Jimmy Nicholl.

The 2 sides met on the opening day of the season where we lost 2-0 through goals from Di Giacomo and Gardyne.  Since then County have struggled in the league with Willie McStay's side currently sitting just behind us in the table having played more games.

If Cowden are to record a victory at Victoria Park it will be the first time in 12 attempts it's happened.  In fact our best score up in Dingwall was a 2-2 draw in September 1995. In fact we've only drawn 3 other games against them and secured just a single victory (1995 was a good year for us against County with a 2-0 win at Central Park) while Ross County have won 23 of the games.  Our most recent point against them came at Central Park in a 2-2 draw on the 11th of August 2007.  A pulsating tie saw Cowden come from behind to nearly snatch a victory with 10 men - Scott Dalziel pulled a goal back before Andy Howat scored the equaliser before later harsly seeing red for a tackle on Stuart Golabek. Only 2 of the Cowden players who took part in that game will take to the field in that game still remain at the club - Davie Hay and John Armstrong although Mark Baxter was also in the squad.

The 5th of February has seen a lot of action in the past 20 or so years. 17 years ago we narrowly lost a thrilling tie away to Berwick Rangers by 3 goals to 2. 6 years later in 2000 we secured a stunning 5-0 win against Albion Rovers with Graeme Brown scoring a brace. in 2005 we drew away to Peterhead 1-1 - Gary Fusco sliding home to snatch a point late on to cancel out Dougie Cameron's early opener for the Blue Toon. So thats a record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat in recent years!

On recent form neither Cowden or Ross County will be heading into the match with much confidence - between the 2 sides in their last 8 games they've managed just a win each. Ross County seem to be struggling to score goals this season with only 13 goals scored in the league - less than bottom club Stirling and 7 behind Cowden despite the fact we have 2 games in hand over them.  This is a proverbial relegation '6-pointer' with 3 points here being vital for both sides.  A glimmer of hope for us is their poor form at Victoria Park with only 2 points picked up out of a possible 15 lately - then again we've achieved no points out of 15 away from home lately.  Clearly a tough game waits for both sides.

Match of the day fact of the week: Ross County sit second bottom of Scotland in terms of goals scored per league game this season. With an average of 0.72 goals per game they sit just above Hamilton who have averaged 0.63 per game.  Cowden sit a proud 27th with 1.25 goals per game - level with Dundee United!