Cowdenbeath endured a tough 2016/17 season which ended in the relief of avoiding a third successive relegation and dropping out of the Scottish Football League after beating East Kilbride in a penalty shoot-out. The Blue Brazil were relegated from League One in 2015/16 after finishing in 9th place in the table and losing 2-1 on aggregate to Queen’s Park in the play-off semi-final. Player-manager Colin Nish was sacked and Liam Fox was appointed as his successor as head coach in the summer. He lost a host of players including goalkeeper Grant Adam, midfielder Lewis Milne and striker Greig Spence and brought in the likes of goalkeeper David McGurn, Fraser Mullen and striker Kris Renton. They made a poor start to the campaign and won just two of their opening dozen league matches. They spent the whole of the second half of the season bottom of the League Two table which is where they finished. Liam Fox resigned at the beginning of March and was replaced by former Hearts boss Gary Locke, who oversaw an improvement in results but was unable to avoid a relegation play-off with Lowland League Champions East Kilbride. It went to penalties following a 1-1 aggregate draw and young goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon made the crucial save as the Blue Brazil won 5-3. They will be mightily relieved following another year of turmoil which saw midfielder David Robertson leave the club after being found guilty of rape in a civil court case before midfielder Dean Brett was sacked in February after admitting betting against his own club. Fox made a brave decision midway through the campaign to put Jamie Sneddon into the team, replacing David McGurn who had been their outstanding performer between the sticks. Fraser Mullen was influential in the middle of the park but it was Kris Renton who was voted player of the season having finished as leading goalscorer with ten goals. Locke will be hoping to end the clubs’ downward spiral and bring some stability to Central Park.
