COWDEN GO INNES WINNERS

By Gary McKenzie
March 20 2006

Scottish Football League Division Three, Saturday 18 March 2006, Links Park, Montrose. MONTROSE 0 COWDENBEATH 3 (Ritchie (40, 45), Buchanan (69)). A good first half performance but ashoddy defending sees the Mo 2 down at halftime.

Montrose were buoyed by the return of Kevin Webster and Martyn Fotheringham to the bench for this match against the Blue Brazil.

Mixu Paateleinen's side are big and physical and none more so than the towering man-mountain Armand One who donned the number 9 short for the visitors.

Cowdenbeath came closest first as McKenna shot just wide in 10 minutes.

Middleton had a shot saved from the edge of the box ion 14 minutes after a fine run by Henslee.

Stephen Fraser will want to forget the 25th minutes when he tripped over the ball, letting Buchanan in, but the full back got back well to force him to shoot over.

In 33 minutes, One made space inside the Mo box and passed unselfishly to Buchanan who turned and shot wide. The big striker might have had a shot himself.

RITCHIE opened the scoring for the visitors in 40 minutes when he scrambled the ball home after a corner.

Montrose tried to hit back straight away. Davidson went on a run in the middle of the park and released Middleton down the left and his shot came back off the far post.

The visitors hit home their superiority a minute before halftime with a simple side foot goal from RITCHIE. Until then Montrose had battled well and did not deserve to be two down.

There was a ten minute delay at half-time while the announcer called for a replacement referee from the crowd.

The second half was best forgotten from a Montrose point of view.

On 51 minutes, Fraser was booked for a late challenge, and Wood made a brilliant one-handed save from the move resulting from the freekick.

In 64 minutes a poor defensive header back to the keeper almost let Cowden in, but Wood made a good save.

Montrose sent on Corre and Webster for Brash and Russell. Middleton was booked for dissent after the linesman gave him offside.

It was all wrapped up by the visitors in 69 minutes. One looked to have handballed at the edge of the box but chipped the ball down the right and BUCHANAN was quicker than Wood to the ball.

In 78 minutes Scullion replaced Mauchlan then in 82 minutes One and Thomson made way for Millar and Krobat

Middleton had another chance but shot straight at the keeper then with a minute to go Wood made a fantastic save diving to the top left corner to beat away Fusco's shot.

Montrose didn't play in the second half after giving a good account of themselves in the first. The two goals at the end of the first half killed this one off.

Teams

Montrose

Wood, Donachie, G Hay, Ferguson, Fraser, Russell, Davidson, Henslee, Brash, Middleton, McLeod

Subs: Watson, Corre, Webster, Fotheringham, Hankinson

Cowdenbeath

D Hay, Guy, McBride, Ward, Ritchie, Fusco, Mauchlen, Thomson, One, McKenna, Buchanan.

Subs: Hill, Millar, Scullion, Krobat, Gilbertson