Cowdenbeath’s hopes of a William Hill Scottish Cup run were washed away in monsoon conditions at Dumbarton on Saturday where Jordan Kirkpatrick’s double was enough to win it for the hosts.
Both sides created chances on a pitch that stood up well to a relentless seven-hour downpour with the effects of the deluge only being seen in the closing stages.
However, neither player- manager Colin Cameron nor goalscorer Jamie Stevenson was inclined to blame the weather for their defeat.
Cameron said: “The first half was disappointing as our ball retention was poor. We made changes to our system at half time and the second half was a lot better.
“We were better as we got the ball down, passed it well and had the chance to win it. We got our equaliser and I thought we would go on win but we then lost a poor goal.”
The Sons went ahead when Kirkpatrick controlled a cross from Paul McGinn before shooting high past Thomas Flynn on 19 minutes. Stevenson and Greg Stewart both went close to levelling it for the Blue Brazil before the break.
However, the Fifers got their reward just after the hour when a Kane Hemmings cross was cleared to Stevenson who drilled a low shot into the net from 25 yards.
Within 60 seconds it looked like the midfielder had made it 2-1 from the same spot but home goalkeeper Jamie Ewings got down to make a fine save.
The Blue Brazil looked in the ascendancy but they switched off fatally when McGinn took a quick free-kick to release Mark Gilhaney and his right-wing cross was volleyed in by Kirkpatrick.
Cowdenbeath’s efforts for a second equaliser were hindered by the worsening conditions and goalscorer Stevenson said: “To be fair the weather made it a good, old-fashioned cup tie. We battled away and the game could have gone either way but the result was not what we wanted.
“I am not going to use the weather as an excuse. It was the same for both teams. It could have been 4-1 to Dumbarton or 4-1 to us.”