Cowdenbeath manager Jimmy Nicholl is hoping his side have timed their Championship escape route perfectly as he does not want to be spending the next fortnight worrying about facing a Hearts side that defeated them 10-0 in their last meeting.
The Blue Brazil saw off Dumbarton 3-0 last Saturday, before a first Fife derby success of the season with a 3-1 win at Raith Rovers on Wednesday, to move eight points clear of today’s bottom-placed visitors and five clear of ninth-placed Alloa.
Nicholl said: “We are hopefully coming to the boil at the right time.
“We knew March would be a struggle in terms of picking up points because of the fixtures that we had, so I asked the boys to concentrate on their performances.”
“I knew that if we were playing well we would have a chance of picking up points in the three-game run against Dumbarton, Raith Rovers and then Livingston.
“We have won the first two games, and now I am looking to complete the hat-trick.
“It will not be easy as they will have confidence as well after winning the Petrofac Training Cup last Sunday and then beating Falkirk on Wednesday.
“I thought that they would win on Wednesday night after their success on Sunday, so winning in Kirkcaldy became more important to us.”
Nicholl’s side will be out of action for the next two weeks after today’s game, and he knows the position he wants them to be in.
“I want us to win this game and be sitting on 28 points before we have two weeks off.
“We do not have a game, due to Falkirk being involved in the Scottish Cup semi-final, and it will be a long two weeks if we do not win ahead of facing Hearts.”
“Beating Livingston would see us 11 points ahead of them and, whilst some people don’t look at the table and upcoming fixtures, I do.
“I like to work out what may happen and who may beat who and see what happens.”
“They have two games more to play than us, and Alloa have one more, so the working out gets very interesting.
“All I would say is that I would like to have safety ensured before we go to Alloa on the final day of the season.”
Skipper John Armstrong looks set to miss out after suffering a head knock at Kirkcaldy, and he joins the injured Dean Brett, Lewis Milne and John Herron in missing out.