Match Preview: QOS v Cowdenbeath

It's lights, camera, action this weekend as Cowden head down to Dumfries to take on Queen of the South in a vital match in our quest to avoid the relegation play-offs.

After the narrow defeat to Falkirk last week we sit a point behind Ross County who have a game in hand (against Queens after another abandonment during the week) soit's important that we secure points at Palmerston.

Jimmy Nicholl is likely to be without skipper Mark Baxter for this match due to a hamstring injury while keeper David Hay remains a doubt for the game. On the plus side, John Armstrong returned to training this week and could return to the squad but the game may just come too soon. Colin Cameron returned to the bench last weekend afer overcoming a groin injury and will be in contention.

Joe Mbu (knee), Bob Malcolm (back) and Dene Droudge (knee) are out for the season. Droudge is making good progress with his rehabilitation programme following surgery in January to fix a knee injury that has kept the young defender out of action for over 12 months.

Visit Kick Talk radio to listen to pre-match chat with Jimmy Nicholl.

It's the 4th meeting between the 2 teams this season and it's not an impressive record for Cowden.  The opening match saw us fall to a 3-1 defeat at Central Park with Mark Mackenzie scoring a screamer from 30 yards.  November saw us collapse to a 3-0 defeat before we fought to a 2-2 draw in March.  Archie Campbell, who will play his final game for Cowden on Saturday before returning to Rangers at the expiry of his 93-day loan deal, scored a penalty for us before SFL Young Player of the Month Greg Stewart grabbed a last gasp equaliser to secure a deserved point for us.

Oddly this date has seen us only play 2 games on this date in the past 17 years and both have been against East Fife.  In 1994 we lost 2-1 before gaining revenge in 2005 in a thrilling 4-2 victory at Central Park.  2 missed penalties didn't stop us running away as comfortable winners - Gary Fusco scored twice in the first half before Paul McHale and Ryan McCallum secure the win.

One point for optimism is our improving away form has been improving lately with 8 points gained out of 15. In fact this is a better record than Queens home form lately and with our opponents on a run of very poor form there is a great chance
here for The Blue Brazil to gain 3 important points.

Match of the day fact of the week:- Queens defeat to Dunfermline last week saw them involved in the tied highest scoring game this season in the league.  7 goals were scored which ties with Particks 6-1 win over Stirling and of course our amazing comeback against Stirling to win 4-3.