Colin Nish wants to be given the chance to get Cowden back into Ladbrokes League One, after the disappointment of failing to overcome Queen’s Park in Saturday’s League One play-off semi-final second leg.
He saw his team dominate the 90 minutes but score only once and miss several gilt-edged chances.
Leading scorer Greig Spence headed the only goal of the tie after 54 minutes but before that Chris Kane had four times gone close with shots and headers while Craig Johnston hit the keeper from only five yards out and Craig Sives failed to score from virtually on the line.
At the other end Queen’s mustered only one shot on target all afternoon.
Nish was bitterly disappointed with the way things ended.
“On the day we did everything but score the goals we needed for we had all the play and created some excellent chances,” he said.
“Had we got the second goal shortly after we took the lead it could have been so different but we just did not convert a high enough percentage of our chances.”
Nish, who succeeded Jimmy Nicholl in the post last summer, added: “While we should have taken more of our openings created today the damage was really done in the first leg.
“We did not play at all well last Wednesday night and that cost us dearly although the chances were there to turn the tie on its head here at Central Park.”
Looking ahead, he said: “I am disappointed for the chairman, directors and the fans for they deserved so much better than relegation but I hope I am able to get the chance to take the club back up.
“I already have ideas to provide a much sounder base to work from at the start of next season to try and ensure we get off to a progressive opening.
“I want to be manager of Cowdenbeath and I dearly want to be in the position to be in charge of our plans to get back into Ladbrokes League One as soon as possible.”
Club chairman Donald Findlay was very unhappy at the failure to make the final as he watched the Central Park side suffer back-to-back relegations following last year’s drop from the Championship.
Findlay and his board will make a decision on the future structure of the Cowden set-up over the next few days.
The Spiders can look forward to this week’s final with Clyde and boss Gus McPherson felt he could not have asked for more from his team.
“We knew that Cowdenbeath would come at us from the first whistle and we had to dig deep at times,” he said.
“The bumpy pitch did not help our game and we did not pose enough problems going forward, but the defensive work was outstanding and I felt that over the two legs, we deserve to be in the final.”
Meanwhile, Queen’s Park’s officials, coaching team and players were stunned to hear that they were at home in the second leg of their final against Clyde on the radio – because no one from the SPFL had talked to them about it.
McPherson’s men were due to face the Bully Wee on Wednesday at the National Stadium and then travel to Broadwood on the Saturday as the Cumbernauld side were entitled to be at home in the second meeting as they had finished in the higher position in League Two.
But Clyde cannot host the game due to a three-day BMX event adjacent to Broadwood and, unbeknown to the Spiders, the SPFL announced that the order of the games as well as the date of the first meeting was changed.
General manager Christine Wright said: “Clyde have put out a statement saying that they knew this was a possibility since March.
“They have obviously told the SPFL and the SPFL have not had the courtesy to inform us or talk to us about the change or the possibility of a change.
“The first we learned about it was when it came on the radio when everyone was travelling back from our game at Cowdenbeath.
“It is extremely disappointing that no one spoke to Queen’s Park about this.”
Mrs Wright added: “The SPFL informed me when I called up to check what was happening that they sent an email to the office of the club on Saturday afternoon.
“The fact that we were playing away from home and there was no one in the office seems to have been missed by them.”