It was the proverbial game of two halves at a windy Cappielow on Saturday as we lost a two goal half time lead to go down to the league leaders.
There were three changes to the side which had beaten Airdrie the previous week. Keeper Colin Stewart was unavailable due to his coaching commitments with the Scotland under 15 squad while both Lewis Milne and Thomas O’Brien dropped to the bench.
Lee Wilson came in for his first start of the season while Sean McAllister made his debut with Jason Naismith also making his first official start for us.
With the wind at our backs attacking the ‘Wee Dublin’ end goal we almost broke the deadlock after just four minutes when a Linton shot crashed off the crossbar.
We eventually took the lead after 13 minutes when a fine move involving Stewart and Linton was finished off at close range by Craig Moore who netted for the fourth successive match.
Things got better five minutes from the interval when Stewart was brought down on the touchline by Rutkiewcz and a penalty was awarded.
Jamie Stevenson’s spot kick was saved by keeper Gaston but he quickly reacted to slot home the rebound for his tenth goal of the season.
However as the wind picked up in the second period so did the hosts who pulled a goal back six minutes into the second half when Brett was judged to have fouled Hardie in the box and Peter MacDonald blasted home from the spot.
Three minutes later MacDonald grabbed an equaliser in surreal circumstances when he latched onto a long clearance by Gaston to send a wind assisted header past Wilson.
The home side then took the lead in 64 minutes when Scott Taggart blasted home a powerful 25 yard shot and any thoughts of a Cowden comeback were dashed seven minutes later when Martin Hardie nodded home a fourth goal to keep the Ton top of the table.