Cowdenbeath added a bit of spice to this afternoon’s Championship clash with Rangers by signing Celtic midfielder John Herron on loan until the end of the season.
Twenty-year-old Herron, who has been capped for Scotland at all youth levels, is viewed as a decent prospect at Parkhead and has been farmed out to Central Park to get some valuable first team experience to continue his development.
And the attacking midfielder could well be in line to make his debut for the Blue Brazil against the Hoops’ Old Firm rivals today if the necessary paperwork is pushed through in time.
It has been a tough time on and off the pitch for both clubs of late, with Rangers heading to Fife just days after it emerged caretaker manager Kenny McDowall had handed in his resignation.
Cowden, on the other hand, suffered a 5-0 loss to Hibs last week, while a cloud was cast over Central Park a few days ago with the news that defender Dean Brett’s partner Gemma had passed away at a young age.
Both clubs will therefore be hoping to focus back on football this afternoon, and Cowden boss Jimmy Nicholl is convinced his team can take something from today’s clash.
“You look at what’s happening at Rangers, what’s happened with Dean Brett this week, sometimes you don’t even feel like talking about football when things like that are happening,” he admitted.
“It’s not going to be easy because of the circumstances, but we’ll do the best we can.
“People are saying that it’s maybe a good time to get Rangers but if that’s the case we won’t get the benefit unless we play.
“It’s simple.
“If our players go out on the park and think we’re playing Rangers and our confidence isn’t high, irrespective of what’s happening at Rangers we won’t win if we’re like that.
“They can’t be like that and they’ve got to realise that we’ve got our own problems on and off the park here.
“We’ve got to start winning football matches.
“It doesn’t matter how Rangers are going about the job, it doesn’t matter what’s behind the scenes.
“The players need to show spirit and determination to win the football match, and they’ve got the ability to win it.
“I know it’s not that easy, you don’t need to tell me, but we’ve got to keep the players lifted after last week and I’ve got to keep myself lifted.
“But we’re capable of doing it if we go about things the right way.”
Cowden are just two points clear of the drop zone and did little to ease their situation after their hammering at Easter Road last weekend.
But Nicholl insists the 5-0 defeat should not be allowed to dent his team’s confidence.
He continued: “There’s nothing seriously wrong that they can’t fix themselves, but I’ve got to make sure the ones that go out on the park are really up and ready to win.
“We’ve got to start winning football matches and I believe we’ve got the squad to do that.
“It’s not as if we’ve got a squad of bog standard, average players.
“We’ve got good players and they’ve proved it on their day, but we’ve got to go and prove it every week, stop the opposition from playing and impose ourselves on the game.
“It’s another three points it doesn’t matter if it’s Rangers or Livingston who are at the bottom.
“We’ve not just got to make amends for last week, we’ve got to get it out of our system and start winning football matches.”
Nicholl, who had two spells with Rangers as a player in the 80s, admitted he had been surprised to see his counterpart at Ibrox confirm that he had handed in his notice this week, but is more concerned with what’s happening at Central Park.
Although he did say: “After Ally McCoist went, you think to yourself that Kenny’s experienced and he’ll keep things ticking along nicely.
“But then something has happened that we don’t know about and Kenny has decided to go.
“It’s just a never ending saga at the club.”
Defender Nat Wedderburn is Cowden’s only injury doubt, although he should be fit after returning to training on Thursday after a niggling hamstring problem, while Brett has been granted time off on compassionate leave.