Cowdenbeath boss Jimmy Nicholl maintains his opposite number at Alloa could go a long way in the game if his first few seasons as a manager are anything to go by.
Nicholl takes his side to Alloa this afternoon, where he will be reacquainted with Paul Hartley, who played under the Northern Irishman at both Millwall and Raith in the mid-90s, and the respect from the men in both dugouts will be mutual.
Having said that, the Cowden boss would love nothing more than to dent Hartley’s hopes of a third successive promotion by taking all three points from Recreation Park.
“I had Paul as a player, so I know what he’s all about,” Nicholl told Courier Sport.
“He’ll get the opportunity of a big move sooner rather than later and he’s got his team well organised, playing well, and they’ve got lots of pace.
“But we’ve got to worry about our team because we want to put the Queen of the South game behind us.
“It was just two silly mistakes that cost us. It was just slack play and it was just horrific to watch.
“It’s hard enough being in the position we’re in without gifting teams goals.”
Last week’s 2-0 home loss left Cowden six points adrift of safety in the Championship and Nicholl is now hoping his team can continue their recent good run of form away from Central Park.
But he added: “The most frustrating thing is that we’ve lost two home games, and these are games where we should be looking at taking six points from.
“If we’re going to go through the rest of the season relying on away wins it’s going to be a long few months for us.
“We’ve got to go to Alloa and try to get something but we’ve also got to get the performance which was missing last week.”
Marc McKenzie is already out with ligament damage and Cowden have four other injury doubts Greg Stewart, Dean Brett, David Cowan and Kenny Adamson.