COWDENBEATH’S all round team performance really pleased manager Gary Bollan in the Betfred Cup win over East Fife that put them top of their section on Saturday night.

The League 1 opponents found the Blue Brazil a real surprise packet and it took their ‘keeper Brett Long to save a late penalty to avoid a 3-0 loss.

Now the manager wants his men to show the same ethic against full-time sides Hearts and Dundee United in this competition.

Said Mr Bollan: “Scoring early in the game really settled us and we produced some good attacks which caused East Fife real problems.

“We also defended well as a team and managed to keep them pretty well down to crosses into the box which our centre-backs coped with really solidly and it meant that Kevin Dabrowski only had one difficult save to make.

“It was a good start to the Betfred campaign but now we know that we have Hearts (on Tuesday) and Dundee United on Friday to contend with.

“United have signed a lot of players during the summer and are sure to be in the Championship title race so it will be a really tough task.”

The game is being held on Friday as Dundee are at home on Saturday in the Betfred.

The manager was pleased with the way Craig Barr, Archie Thomas, Graham Taylor and Kevin Dabrowski started their careers at Central Park: “Craig is a very experienced defender and he was commanding in the air and on the ground, while in midfield Archie and Graham were often prominent both in pushing the team forward and in defending so they did really well.

“Kevin dealt with everything that came his way in a confident manner and had a good relationship with his defensive mates.

“It was a good all round team performance and I was delighted with it but we will need the same at Tannadice on Friday.”

Skipper David Cox was also delighted with the way the team worked hard at both ends of the pitch.

He said: “I felt that we were well worth the win and when we had to, we defended as a solid unit.

“The new lads came in and slotted into our system well and we can take confidence from that all round performance and I think there is even more to come from our new recruits.”

The manager concluded negotiations on Friday night for the signature of Graham Taylor who played as a trialist for the club in the two pre-season friendly matches.

Graham signed the forms on Friday evening and they have now been lodged with the SFA in order for his registration to be processed for the East Fife game.

Graham (21) is a pacy left sided midfielder and impressed many watchers in his pre-season appearances. Last season, he was a regular in the Edinburgh City line up that just missed out on promotion.

Before joining City in 2018, Graham had come through the youth ranks at Dundee United and he had spent a number of years at Tannadice.