Hearts B suffered only their third Lowland League defeat of the season on Friday night as Cowdenbeath ran out 2-1 winners at Central Park.
Liam Fox made two changes from the side that edged out Civil Service Strollers last Friday. James Wilson and Ryan Duncan replaced Murray Thomas and Macaulay Tait.
It was a horrible night in Fife and with strong winds blowing from one goalkeeper to the other, it was evident from an early stage that this was going to be a game of two very contrasting halves.
The home side had the wind behind them in the first half and they made the most of it. Opening the scoring after just three minutes. A dangerous in-swinging corner from the left caused confusion in the Hearts box as Robbie McNab wheeled away in celebration after bundling the ball home from close range.
It was a shaky start from the Wee Jambos, who were just struggling to put their foot on the ball and string any sort of combinations together. However, they managed to fashion a good chance on the 20-minute mark when a loose ball dropped to Callum Sandilands inside the penalty box, he got his strike away, but Craig Hepburn was quick off his line to deny him from point blank range.
Cowden were playing very direct with the conditions in mind and another corner led to their second goal of the evening, ten minutes from the break.
This time, the delivery was from the opposite side and Gregor Jordan rose highest to power his header past McFarlane.
The men in maroon stuck to their task and despite not being at their best, they carved out another good opening a couple of minutes before the interval. McLuckie weaved his way between two Cowdenbeath defenders, in what was the best piece of skill in the opening 45, before pulling the ball back for Wilson who could only prod straight at Hepburn.
Into the second half and it only took the Wee Jambos three minutes to halve the deficit. Sandilands latched on to a ball through the middle and rifled the ball high into the roof of the net to give Hearts hope.
That was as good as it got for the men in maroon, who try as they might, just struggled to gain any real controlled possession in Cowden’s half.
The introduction of Murray Thomas saw Hearts deliver some more crosses into the box, but the home side dealt with everything Hearts threw at them and held on to take all three points, in a game that won’t live long in the memory.
Cowdenbeath: Hepburn, G. Macpherson, Tait, Jordan, McNab ©, McDonald, Butterworth, Berry, Chalmers, MacDonald, E. Macpherson
Subs: Blair, McLaughlin, Jack, Docherty, Rodden, Cunningham
Hearts B: McFarlane, McLuckie, Wilson (Thomas, 65), Sandilands, Kirk, Gordon, Nair, Drysdale (Dall, 89), Forrester, Duncan (Stevenson, 81), Rathie
Subs: McConnell, Dall, Flatman, Thomas, Stevenson, Friel, Chisholm
