Cowdenbeath were unable to hold on to a first-half lead as the Blue Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw against Edinburgh City at Meadowbank Stadium after an 80th-minute equaliser from the hosts.
City did begin the brighter of the two sides and, if not for the inspired form of Cowdenbeath goalkeeper David McGurn, the hosts could have had a two-goal lead inside 10 minutes.
Jamie Pyper initially gifted possession with a slack back-pass to Edinburgh striker Ross Allum, who skipped past the final defender in his way before stinging the palms of McGurn.
Moments later a defensive clearance was misjudged by Pyper as the ball bounced over his head and into the path of Allum once again, and his attempt was again kept out by McGurn.
Despite the early pressure from the hosts Cowden opened the scoring after 38 minutes.
Dean Brett twisted the opposition left back inside-out before curling a cross into the area that met the head of unmarked Kris Renton, and he placed his header into the bottom right corner.
The ex-Norwich City midfielder almost doubled his and Cowdenbeath’s tally in the 65th minute as his effort cannoned off the bar.
Edinburgh City substitute Ousman See forced another spectacular save from man of the match McGurn before the hosts eventually got their equaliser with 10 minutes remaining.
A deep free-kick wasn’t sufficiently cleared, and Douglas Gair was in the right position to poke home from close range.
Cowden manager Liam Fox said: “It was an end-to-end game.
“I thought we were slow starting and McGurn made a couple of great saves,” added Fox.
“We got better as the game went on and scored a really good team goal, but I am disappointed to lose it from a winning position.”
