Cowdenbeath 1 Partick Thistle 4

Cowden opened their programme of pre-season games with a defeat from First Division Partick Thistle at a sunny Peffermill on Saturday afternoon.

Manager Danny Lennon fielded no fewer than 23 players, including himself, during the afternoon with separate XI's being fielded in each half against a strong Thistle side.

The opening period saw new signing Gareth Wardlaw make his debut with a trialist midfielder also getting a run out. Midfielder Mark Ramsay however saw his first start of the campaign cut short when he went off with a knock in the opening minutes.

The opening stages of the game were played at a low tempo with chances for each side being few and far between. Thistle eventually broke the deadlock seven minutes from the break when McKeown slotted the ball to a trialist at the edge of the box who slotted a low shot past Hay. Cowden's best efforts fell to Stein who had two of his trademark long range shots which failed to beat Northern Irish internationalist keeper Jonny Tuffey.

The second 45 minutes saw a completely different Cowden XI take the field with two trialists – a keeper and a defender included in the line up.

The Glasgow side doubled their advantage after 57 minutes when former Central Parker Liam Buchanan fired home from eight yards. Soon after, Manager Danny Lennon returned to the action replacing the trialist defender. Thistle went further ahead with 16 minutes left on the clock when Doolan flicked the ball to Paul Cairney who fired home a low shot. However with seven minutes remaining Cowden pulled a goal back through a shot from youngster John Ferguson. With just two minutes to go Thistle restored their three goal lead when Erskine and Gray combined to set up Kris Doolan.

Final score: Cowden XI 1, Partick Thistle 4.

TEAM (1st Half): David Hay, Danny Lennon, Kenny Adamson, Thomas O'Brien, Dene Droudge, Joe Mbu, Trialist, Mark Ramsay (Brian Fairbairn 4), John Dempster, Gareth Wardlaw & Jay Stein.

TEAM (2nd Half): Trialist, Jamie Reid, Scott Linton, Peter Bradley, Trialist (Danny Lennon 60), Darren McGregor, Jon Robertson, Derek Wallace, Marek Tomana, Paul McQuade & John Ferguson.

PARTICK THISTLE: Jonny Tuffey, John Robertson, Marc Twaddle (Iain Maxwell), Martyn Corrigan, Alan Archibald, Paul Paton, David Rowson (Chris Erskine), Stephen McKeown (Paul Cairney), Liam Buchanan (Kris Doolan), Trialist (Damon Gray) & Bryan Hodge (Ricky Little).

"It was a good run out and an opportunity for all the boys to get a planned 45 minutes as part of the pre-season programme", said Lennon.

"A good number of our younger players featured and they showed up well."

Meanwhile, an away friendly with 1st Division side Ross County has been arranged for Saturday 18th July @3pm. A decision on the fixture with Rosyth Juniors, which had been due to take place on the same day, is still to be taken.