Spirit Of The 70's Required

Cowdenbeath's second Fife derby in seven days sees them visit their old rivals from six miles up the road. Cowdenbeath's thrilling 4-4 draw with Raith Rovers seven days ago is is followed by a trip to East End Park for their second clash of the season with their nearest neighbours.Hard to believed these days that Cowdenbeath FC went unbeaten at Central Park in League games throughout the 1970's against their old rivals Dunfermline Athletic. The Blue Brazil also had the Indian sign over their neighbours at East End Park in the early part of that decade. Now, Colin Cameron's side must rekindle the spirit of the 70's to bring about a first Blue Brazil win at The Pars since 1993. Cowdenbeath used to turn it on regularly against their more illustrious rivals from Scotland's ancient capital, especially when The Pars were enjoying a particularly good spell, so maybe a bit of Halloween witchcraft can be spun on Saturday October 27th and history will be repeated with a 'Beath win over a Pars team able to go top of Div 1 if they win at home on Saturday and Partick Thistle stumble at Falkirk.   Here are Cowdenbeath's greatest hits at East End Park.   1885: Cowdenbeath's first meeting with The Pars and the blues were "Fife Champions" back in the days when local bragging rights really were the be all and end all. Their first match against the newly formed Dunfermline Athletic at East End Park ended up in a 3-0 win for 'Beath. Not surprisingly the former Cricket club turned football club didn't take defeat well and reported to the local Dunfermline Press that Cowdenbeath's team that day were made up of "battering rams and steam engines".  A local rivalry was born.     1970: Defeat by the only part time side in an 18 team First Division (top league) at the start of season 1970/1 is said to have ended The Pars golden era as a third force in Scottish football and a regular Scottish League representative in Europe. Dunfermline were run ragged by Cowden's semi-pro midget wingmen Davy Ross and Billy Laing (later played for The Pars) and to add insult to injury the 2-1 Cowden win at East End Park was repeated at Central Park on Jan 1st 1971.   1972: Both sides were now in the 19 team Second Division and although The Pars were promoted at the end of season '72/3 Cowden once again embarrassed them with a 2-0 win at East End Park (John Dickson and Billy Bostock) and a 1-0 win at Central Park (Jim Taylor with the winning goal).     1976: October 30th 1976. Swap Shop on Saturday Morning TV and Cowden's first visit to East End Park in the league since League reconstruction in 1975. This Second Division match saw The Pars take an early lead through Roddy Georgeson only for veteran sub Billy Simpson to re-establish Cowden's 'bogey team' status with a last minute equaliser via a speculative 40 yard shot with time running out.     1993: Late in season '92/3 Dunfermline are on the verge of promotion to the SPL while Cowdenbeath are heading back to the basement of the SFL with a run of 33 League games without a win. Cue another piece of Cowden witchcraft as ex-Pars player Willie Callaghan scores both in a 2-0 win for The Blue Brazil. The Pars go on to blow promotion and Cowdenbeath fans are at least relegated with a broad smile on their face. Source: ScottishFitba

Source: FOOTYMAD