Stenhousemuir 0-0 Cowdenbeath: Stenny rising to the occasion

Stenhousemuir 0

Cowdenbeath 0

Aggregate: 0-0

Stenhousemuir won 5-4 on penalties after extra time

MAN of many promotions John Coughlin added yet another lower league achievement to his CV as he returned Stenhousemuir to the Second Division. Penalties are a cruel way of deciding the outcome of a 40-game season, but needs must and it will be Coughlin's men planning for promotion, and Cowdenbeath enduring a summer of heartache.

The home side, urged on by a decent sized crowd of 1,530 inside Ochilview, had the better of the chances created during the first half. Craig Molly drilled wide from 20 yards, Scott Dalziell failed to hit the target from a tight angle, the club's player of the year, Kevin Motion, warmed the palms of visiting keeper David Hay with a well-controlled free kick and Iain Diack took a fresh air swipe six yards out when looking odds-on to break the deadlock.

The second half started in much the same fashion with the hosts looking the more likely scorers. Indeed they ought to have hit the front 90 seconds after the restart when central defender John Ovenstone rattled the underside of the bar.

Cowdenbeath were lacking nothing in terms of effort but they were struggling to inject any rhythm into their play, with 69 minutes elapsing before they overly worried the home defence, Paul McQuade rising highest to meet a testing delivery from Mark Baxter only to see keeper Scott Bennett get down well to smother as the game trundled towards extra time.

Unfortunately it was another 30 minutes of the ball being aimlessly battered black and blue, with only a hook shot from Diack and a prod from Cowden's Mark Ramsay coming close. As ever with shoot-outs there was a hero and a villain and this was no different. Scott Bennett's stop from a poorly hit Jay Stein kick handed the advantage to Stenny, allowing sub Andy Brand to sweep home the decisive fifth kick and spark wild scenes of celebrations.