Cowdenbeath urged to express themselves

COWDENBEATH manager Danny Lennon has urged his players to overcome any nerves they have and put on a confident show in the first leg of their play-off final against a Stenhousemuir side which finished seven points behind them in the Third Division table.

The Central Park manager said: "I know that this will be a nervous occasion, but I want the players to be confident. We showed that we could handle the disappointment of not winning the title in the semi-finals and we need to do that again. The players held their shape fantastically well against East Stirling on Saturday.

It is probably better facing Stenhousemuir than Queen's Park who we do not know so well."

Stenhousemuir manager John Coughlin is delighted that his players have dug themselves out of the difficult position they found themselves in a month ago when they were toiling even to make the play-offs.

"A lot of people had written us off a month ago because we were on a poor run after leading the league for a long time," he said. "The players have responded to that situation magnificently and have dug us out of the hole we were in."

Cowdenbeath will be without Kenny Adamson and Danny Mackay, but hope to have Derek Fleming and Graeme Brown available, while Stenhousemuir have no injury worries.