Ground 7: Central Park

Behind bars: Fife's answer to El Clasico

Game: Cowdenbeath 4 v 4 Raith Rovers

Date: 20^th October 2012

Competition: Scottish Football League Division 1

Attendance: 1,209

Admission: £15

Programme: £2

When I looked at the fixture list for this Saturday there was one fixture that stuck out like a sore thumb – the Fife derby. Raith Rovers visiting Cowdenbeath at Central Park, so I was off in the car and 35 minutes after leaving Leith, crossing the Forth Road Bridge, I found myself driving up Cowdenbeath’s high street and turning left to get myself parked.

I won’t do a social history of Cowdenbeath but any fan of Scottish football should so themselves the service of reading the Cowden chapter in the previously mentioned (and not for the last time) Stramash and also seek out a copy of Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil by Ron Ferguson. After reading both accounts I certainly saw Cowdenbeath in a different light and I would suggest that everyone else might too.

Perhaps it's me, but there is something charming and romantic about steps leading up to a football ground

There’s no question that Central Park has seen better days, and whilst that may be off putting to many, it’s one of the reasons I find the ground charming. I didn’t on my first visit to the ground back in the mid-90s when my Dad took my brother and I to watch the Blue Brazil take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle. It was a cold day, Cowden led 2-1 with minutes to go and my brother’s protestations that we should leave early was acquiesced by Dad and we departed, only to discover by the time we got back to car that ICT had netted twice to secure a victory. I’ve not left a game early since (even when I really wanted to. The 19^th May of this year springs to mind).

The pictures may not do Central Park justice, with the ground surrounded by a stock car track, so I’ve included a marvellous video at the bottom of this post. The short documentary features former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has also in attendance at today’s game.

I hadn’t eaten lunch so I grabbed a coke and a pie and made my way into one of the main stands that make up Central Park. Watching the players warm-up, I couldn’t help but notice that Cowdenbeath looked very classy in their Umbro equipment – even the ballboys and girls had fetching Cowdenbeath baseball jackets. Being early gave me an opportunity to read the programme where I noticed that today’s match ball sponsor was Cowdenbeath’s Chairman, Donald Findlay QC. The programme was a ramshackle affair, a tad disjointed but certainly a lot of enthusiasm had gone into it.

Cowdenbeath for much of the 90s languished in the Third Division but recently have been very shrewd in their managerial appointments – Craig Levein (Scotland), Mixu Paatelainen (Finland), Danny Lennon (St. Mirren) have all started their managerial careers in Fife, and currently former Scotland international Colin Cameron occupies the hot seat as well as taking a starting berth in the Blue Brazil’s starting XI.

Cowdenbeath found themselves 1-0 up earlier on with a scrappy goal from Kyle Miller, but it was deserved as Raith were second to every ball and seemed short of ideas. In particular, they had great difficulty dealing with Cowdenbeath’s right winger O’Brien, he was short, had an interesting gait but there was no doubt he was a player and had the better of the Rovers’ left back. Whenever Raith had the ball their first thought was to play it long. Whilst the pitch at Central Park isn’t the finest there was no excuse as Cowden played the ball on the deck pretty effortlessly.

Jamie Stevenson put Cowdenbeath 2-0 up with a low, driven free kick from 30 odd yards. There was absolutely no doubt that Raith’s keeper should have done better. However, Raith found themselves back in contention soon after when a stramash in the box led to Cowden keeper Thomas Flynn picking up a pass from one of his own players. From the resulting indirect free kick, Brian Graham fired home. Player-manager Cameron and his goalkeeper had an exchange of views afterwards that looked quite fraught. Then just before half-time, the Fife derby was all-level as Greig Spence headed home a dangerous Joe Hamill cross.

The early stages of the second half weren’t up to much – with much of the game being played in the air, at one stage I counted nine consecutive headers!

However the introduction of Lewis Coult for Cowdenbeath looked to swing the game in Cowden’s favour. Coult took a few minutes getting up to speed with the game, but when he did he looked the best player on the pitch – he struck twice in three minutes to leave Raith shellshocked and Cowden in a promising position to garner all three points. Surely they couldn’t blow another two goal lead?

Well, yes, they could. Firstly Rovers’ substitute Patrick Clarke struck back from 12 yards with an intelligent one-two just a minute after Coult’s second. And then, in events that have been repeated already this season – Cowden, defending a lead stopped playing the game that had given them the lead and instead tried to hold on to their three points. Instead they only got some as Simon Mensing headed home in injury team to give both sides a point.

In all honesty, the last fifteen minutes of the game was absolutely breathless stuff and probably covered up for a disappointing half an hour before it. But I can’t imagine I’ll see many goals this season with eight goals in 90 minutes, a fantastic advert for Scottish football.

That’s why I couldn’t believe my ears when I walked out the ground to hear a guy behind me say “can’t believe I paid £15 for that rubbish”. I was flabbergasted, I thought I’d just watched a cracking and competitive game of football, which just goes to prove that as long as there is the Scottish football, there will always be room for pessimists!