Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City were on the wrong end of a 4-0 thumping against Cowdenbeath at Central Park this afternoon, and will now have to wait until after next week's last league game of the season against title contenders Stirling Albion to find out if they will make the fourth play-off position.

After today's league encounters, City's goal difference is plus 5 compared to Peterhead's minus 4 so it would take a very heavy City defeat against Stirling and a huge Blue Toon victory against Stenhousemuir to prevent City winning one of the play-off places.

However, no-one at Glebe Park is taking anything for granted and manager Jim Duffy wouldn't be drawn on making any comment about City's play-off aspirations when he spoke after the match, preferring instead, to confine his remarks to the afternoon's heavy defeat.

" The best team won and we can't have any complaints, " said Jim.

" It was a similar to story to what happened at Glebe Park in the first-half last Tuesday night. However, today it lasted a lot longer and we just have to accept that Cowdenbeath played well and we didn't, and we congratulate them on being worthy winners."

" The goals we lost certainly concerned me. For the first quarter of the season we were very good defensively. However,players who were playing very consistently earlier in the year have certainly shaded and there's nothing much you can do about it. Being a part-time club, we can't bring in a big number of replacements and you can onlyhope that the players learn from their experiences and ultimately become better players."

" Regardless of that however, there's no doubt that we've been leaking too many goals and we have one game left to make sure that we're a bit tighter."

The manager kept faith with the team that had earned a fighting draw against Cowdenbeath on Tuesday night.

City had their first opportunity of the match after just two minutes when Mark Archdeacon headed the ball back across the penalty-box for Charlie King, but the midfielder, under pressure, blasted the ball over the bar.

In the 6th minute, Cowdenbeath scorned a great chance to open the scoring when Scott McBride took advantage of a mis-directed Richard Walker pass to move in on goal, but he hit the ball against the post with the goal at his mercy.

Craig Nelson had to look sharp three minutes later when he raced from his goal-line to block a Gareth Wardlaw shot and a couple of minutes after that John Armstrong headed a Jon Robertson free-kick just past the post.

In 17 minutes, Paul McQuade's pace took him beyond the City defence but Nelson forced him to go wide of the goal before parrying his shot for a corner.

The hosts were forcing the pace, and Scott Linton fired a left-foot drive just wide of the post in the 20th minute.

However, the Fifers'pressure paid off when they scored a great goal from McQuade just six minutes later.

McBride picked up the ball wide on the left and then sent an inch-perfect pass into the box for McQuade, whose low, diving header gave Nelson no chance.

King nearly grabbed the equaliser for City in the 31st minute when his cross from the right hit the post, with Cowden keeper David Hay completely misjudging the flight of the ball.

The hosts, though were completely dominating play and the increased their lead in the 35th minute with a cracking goal from Darren McGregor who picked up a loose ball at the edge of the box before rifling an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

The second-half was only one minute old when City found themselves three down when a cross from the left was back headed across the face of the penalty-box by Paul McLean into the path of Wardlaw who had the simplest of tasks in heading the ball home.

Cowden were looking dangerous every time they were on the offensive and they underlined their superiority and City's defensive inadequacies with a wonderful goal from McQuade in the 56th minute.

McBride sent over another good cross from the left, and McQuade got away from his marker to volley home from around eight yards.

In the 75th minute, Nelson came to City's rescue when he brought off a good save from a John Dempster header and two minutes later another great cross from McBride was volleyed over the bar by Mark Ramsay.

Other Results - Irn Bru 2nd Division

Dumbarton 0 Arbroath 2

Lichties Keep Survival Hopes Alive

East Fife 1 Stenhousemuir 1

All Square At Bayview

Peterhead 2 Alloa Athletic 0

Blue Toon Keep Slim Play-Off Hpes Alive After Win

Stirling Albion 1 Clyde 0

Stirling Take Over At Top Of Table