They got off to a bad start with Mark Crilly earning the referee's wrath and a yellow card for a two-footed tackle in only the second minute. Fourteen minutes later another home player was yellow-carded, Joe McAlpine, for what can only be described as a silly tackle.
There was little to choose between the two sides with perhaps the visitors having a slight edge in possession but on 33 minutes it was Stranraer who took the lead. Home leader Michael Moore sent Stevie Nicholas free out on the right and from a deep position Nicholas fooled the Cowdenbeath keeper with a shot which caught the foot of the post and spun into the net. For home fans time seemed to stand still as the ball came off the woodwork and seemed to hang in the air before it crossed the line.
Cowdenbeath, who had managed to hit the woodwork earlier in the half with a Laurie Ellis shot had the bulk of the attack after the break and particularly after 74 minutes when Crilly's second yellow card was followed by a red. But Stranraer matched them for effort and marshalled their own defence so well that home keeper Scott Black, apart from a Mark Baxter shot which he turned for a corner, had no problems in dealing easily with everything else that Cowdenbeath could offer.