Dundee United 3, Cowdenbeath 0.

Betfred Cup Section A

Attendance-2,526

THIS Friday night Betfred showdown with United turn out to be a bridge too far for Cowdenbeath, their third tie in just six days and the second successive match with a full-time side.

Cowden were without experienced defender Craig Barr for this one and it had a significant impact in that the rearguard lacked familiarity with the dealing with the sort of trickery that the Championship Tannadice Terrors possessed.

Nonetheless Cowden had a few good efforts at goal and had one of them gone in it might have made the fixture more interesting.

Again goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski was in top form making a series of good stops and he is looking to be a top signing by boss Gary Bollan.

The side, like against Hearts, and East Fife, kept working hard and skipper David Cox came closest to getting a goal for the Blues.

United started the game positively and in five minutes Nicky Clark saw his shot blocked by Jamie Todd and then a Lawrence Shankland shot was well held by Dabrowski.

At the other end Cox worked space for himself 15 yards out and his shot was well saved by the United last line.

Four minutes later the the Cowden front man again got into a good position and his low shot was saved by the diving 'keeper.

Concerned by these raids United upped the pace and Shankland fired wide before Clark sent his header too high but in 26 minutes the home side went ahead.

Shankland provided the opportunity and Adrian SPORLE fired a left foot shot over Dabrowski.

This gave Dundee United the impetus to keep looking for goals and Scott Banks had a good shot blocked by the hard working Blues' defence before Shankland saw his shot well saved by Dabrowski.

Cowden had the injured Mike Herd, operating in defence, replaced by Jordan Allan for the second period and still United looked the likelier team to score with Clark's free-kick hitting the Cowdenbeath bar.

On the hour the hosts got the second goal when Banks' cross was perfect for SHANKLAND to head wide of the 'keeper and then twice Calum Butcher went close for the Tangerines.

Cowdenbeath were struggling to put a lot of good moves together as they started to tire but the third goal did not come until the the 86th minute when a Logan Chalmers cross was perfect for Louis APPERE to send a powerful header past Dabrowski.

In the closing seconds Cox sent a good shot just over but there were to be no goals for the Blue Brazil.

Dundee United: Mehmet (6); Smith (7), Sporle (7); Connolly (6), Reynolds (7), Butcher (7); McMullan (6) (Chalmers 76 (3)), Banks (7) (Appere 81 (3)), Shankland (8), Clark (7) (Harkes 77 (3)), Stanton (6). Subs not used, Robson, Watson, King and Siegrist.

Cowdenbeath: Kevin Dabrowski (8); Mike Herd (5) (Jordan Allan 46 (6)), Fraser Mullen (6); Jamie Pyper (7), Jamie Todd (7), Kyle Miller (6); David Cox (7), Robbie Buchanan (6), Graham Taylor (6), Archie Thomas (7), Kris Renton (6). Subs not used, Euan Valentine, Jordyn Sheerin, Kyle Sneddon, Ryan Connelly, Ross Pollock and Matt Whyte.

Referee-David Lowe (7).