Pars manager Allan Johnston was content after his side dismantled their Fife rivals to win through to the second round of the Scottish League Cup.
He said: “Dunfermline were disappointed last year (in missing promotion), so it was important that we put on a performance and played good football.”
Dunfermline started brightly, and looked to have taken the lead early on at East End Park when Faissal El Bahktaoui volleyed home after a flick on from Michael Moffat, but the flag went up for offside.
Despite dominating possession the hosts were frustrated in the opening 45 minutes though.
“You’ve got to look at the positives,” said Johnston.
“Even the first half performance we could easily have scored three or four.”
The hosts had won five of their previous six matches against the Blue Brazil in the League Cup, and looked favourite to extend that run when El Bahktaoui finally broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half.
Joe Cardle crossed for the Moroccan, and he held off Cowdenbeath captain John Armstrong before firing low past Michael Andrews.
Dunfermline doubled their advantage around the hour when Shaun Byrne blasted home from the edge of the box, but a mere two minutes later Declan Hughes thrashed home to give the visitors a lifeline.
It was to prove a false dawn, though. Pars centre-back Ben Richards-Everton thumped a clearance up field which Ryan Wallace on minutes before for Moffat latched on to before being felled by Andrews. The keeper was sent off and the substitute forward converted the resulting penalty.
“I would have been quite happy to tap the penalty in the net with the keeper never getting sent off,” said Wallace in his post-match interview. “But he caught my foot and I’m going down 100%. He wasn’t getting the ball either but I don’t think either of us were giving it up!”
“We were maybe just coming into the game and then we gave a way a stupid penalty,” lamented Cowden player-manager Colin Nish, the former Pars striker. “Obviously that sealed the game for them and they thoroughly enjoyed the last 20 minutes or so.”
Shaun Byrne deservedly got his name on the scoresheet four minutes after Wallace’s conversion, finding space in the box to head home Michael Paton’s cross for 4-1. Dunfermline nearly made it five late on when Paton’s shot spun under replacement keeper Jamie Sneddon before being hooked off the line by Armstrong.
The Pars manager was pleased, adding: “You can see the amount of fans that were here today. We didn’t want to disappoint them.”
The vast majority of the 2,756 in attendance were left far from dis-appointed, with El Bahktaoui adding gloss to the scoreline in the final minute, forcing his way through before finding the bottom corner for his second.