Cowdenbeath boss Jimmy Nicholl contends that his team are determined to beat Livingston to avoid being dragged into the automatic relegation fight.
Despite having incurred a points deduction earlier this season, bottom club Livi are just seven points behind the Blue Brazil going into today’s clash and can therefore make life very uncomfortable for Nicholl and his men with a win in West Lothian.
Cowden, on the other hand, see things much differently and know that three points for them this afternoon will do wonders for their own particular survival bid.
“What we have to do is do what Raith Rovers did to us last week,” Nicholl explained.
“If we had won at home to Raith the gap would have been down to four points in the league and we would have had our sights set on them, but they got a late goal and now we’re sitting 10 points behind them.
“So we’ve got to do exactly the same against Livingston this weekend.
“That’s the way we’re going to approach the Livi game: if we win we increase the gap on them to 10 points, it eases a bit of the pressure on us, and means we can focus on trying to get up the league.
“It’s an important game as well in that we’ve got games against Hibs, Rangers and Queen of the South coming up, and we know it’s going to be hard work picking up points against teams like that.
“It’s difficult to get a run going in this league but we’ve got to get over the disappointment of last week.”
Cowden will have defender Thomas O’Brien back in the ranks after his red card against Dumbarton was rescinded following an appeal on Thursday, so he will be available to start.
On loan Dundee United striker Kudus Oyenuga should also return to the starting line-up after the birth of his child, while midfielder Dean Brett who has been sidelined for several weeks with a foot injury played in a friendly against Broxburn earlier this week and could come into contention.