So the blues go marching on into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup but it was the Blue Brazil rather than the Sky Blue variety.
Cowden were far more comfortable winners than perhaps both sets of supporters had anticipated but Forfar manager Dick Campbell insisted he had been under no illusions how hard a task had awaited his side.
“Cowdenbeath deserved to win,” he said. “Their goals were sensational. I didn’t think there was a lot between the sides but they fully deserved to win the tie. Their goals were great.
“We just didn’t do enough to get through the tie and I have no complaints.”
Campbell acknowledged that in brief spells after Forfar scored and right at the end after Cowdenbeath scored their third his side showed some flashes of the passing play that has served them so well recently.
“But you can’t play for five minutes and expect to do anything. We were playing against a team from a higher league and nobody was kidding me on this week. It will be a right wake-up call as to what we still have to achieve.”
Forfar struggled to find their rhythm right from the off.
Cowdenbeath took a 12th minute lead with a neat attack down the right. Kyle Miller completed some intricate passing with a cut-back across the box to Declan Hughes and he swept home from 12 yards.
Cowden doubled their lead in the 27th minute with only their second real attack. Miller again provided a good cross and Sean Higgins rose and powered a header past Rab Douglas.
Forfar reduced the deficit three minutes later when Dale Hilson took full advantage of a lucky break. The ball ricocheted off Marcus Fraser’s head as the pair challenged and Hilson controlled with his chest and drilled a low shot into the bottom corner.
Cowdenbeath restored their two-goal advantage in the 64th minute with a wonder strike from Lewis Milne. He picked the ball up in midfield and unleashed a 35 yard scorcher.
Forfar pressed and right at the death Omar Kader saw his shot come back off the crossbar and the visitors survive a mad goal-line scramble.
Cowdenbeath manager Jimmy Nicholl was delighted with the way his team had responded to their hammering last week.
“We scored three great goals but after that we did get a bit slack and they got a lift.
“But it was a great goal to kill the tie. That is him (Milne) just back from injury and he was scoring goals before he was injured too.
“He has got back into the team now and hopefully will keep doing that.
“We expected a tough game today. We knew it would be tough because Forfar would have been confident going into the game, especially after last week and us getting a doing from Falkirk.
“All I wanted was a reaction today. If I hadn’t got that reaction, I would have been more disappointed than I was last week but we did.
“Forfar posed us problems. They rattled one off the bar and I can see why they are top of their league. I am pleased because this was a real difficult game for us.”