Cowdenbeath entertain Rangers on Saturday, with the Fifers looking for their first home win against the Ibrox men since a 3-2 success in 1930.
Just as important to Jimmy Nicholl’s side is the opportunity to get playing again after last weekend’s 10-0 thrashing by Championship leaders Hearts.
Nicholl said in the wake of the Tynecastle defeat that his job was to ‘lift the players after an embarrassing scoreline’ and that it was ‘all about how people react, how I react and how the players react against Rangers.’
On the eve of facing Kenny McDowall’s team, the former Northern Ireland internationalist has admitted the defeat left him angry and that anger increased after he watched the game again.
He said: “At half-time at Tynecastle I looked at the situation and thought ‘well, we are 5-0 down with only 10 men but we have given away a couple of penalties’. I was not too hard on the players.
“It was the same at full-time as there was no point in getting stuck into them after they had lost 10 goals. However, I watched the game on the Sunday and the more I watched the angrier I became.
“You can accept poor displays but what you cannot accept is a failure to close players down and a failure to stop players turning and shooting. We simply stood off Hearts far too much and I let the boys know that on Monday.
“There was a lot said on Monday morning and then again when the part-time boys came in on Monday night. There was a lot said again on Thursday night as no-one should be getting goals that easily against us. It is all about recovery now and that recovery started when we got the ball out again.
“I remember a game against Ipswich Town from my playing days that we lost heavily and they could even afford to miss a couple of penalties.
“I gave away a penalty and got taken off before I was sent off. I felt really low for a few days and that only went away when I started kicking a football again. I am sure that the players here will feel the same.
“There will be a decent crowd at the game and they will generate a good atmosphere, especially as Rangers look to be heading in a direction their fans want them to head in now.
“No-one gives us a chance but we will look to go out and play well and see what we can do to soften our disappointment.”
Craig Stewart
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