Assistant boss Scott MacKenzie was pleased to see Albion Rovers end a run of four games without a win but admits they have underachieved this season.
Charlie Reilly’s sizzling second-half strike at Cowdenbeath was enough to earn Rovers the points at Central Park but they had to settle for an eight-place finish in League Two, one place worse off than where they ended up last term.
MacKenzie, who took the reins on Saturday with boss Brian Reid absent due to family reasons, said: “I’m glad we got the win because that would have been a really sore one if we’d gone out with a defeat this season.
“We were on a good run then hit a patch of bad results so I said to the players before the game lets finish on a high, try and get a win, and they did that. They were good on Saturday and passed the ball a lot better than they have done in previous weeks.
“I don’t know if that was because the pressure was off but we are happy to get a result to finish the season off.
“We’ve let ourselves down in games this season and in this last quarter we’ve had a few chances missed.
“We were on a good run and played Stranraer at home when we could have gone level with them, which could have taken us up to sixth or seventh, but we got a skelping [5-0].
“The heads went down after that. Maybe because we were safe, I don’t know, but we wanted to finish higher than where we finished last season so we’ve underachieved to end up eighth.”
Rovers went close through star striker Kyle Doherty when he fired narrowly wide in 19 minutes, while David Wilson’s header forced Cowden keeper Cammy Gill into a good save.
The visitors were dealt a blow just before the break when Doherty hobbled off holding his hamstring.
But with the very first action of the second half, Rovers found their goal straight from kick-off. A marauding run from Lewis Wilson saw him pick out Reilly and the midfielder found the top corner with a fantastic curling finish.
Just after the hour mark a great stop from Gill denied Wright and in the final moments Rovers keeper Harry Stone spilled a cross but Cowden couldn’t take advantage.
On Reilly’s effort, MacKenzie said: “It was a good finish from Charlie. He’s not got enough belief in himself because he should be doing that every week.
“He’s caught it sweet and it’s gone into the top corner.
“Credit to their goalkeeper because we should have scored more but he’s made some wonder saves to keep them in it. Cowdenbeath had some chances at set-pieces but I think over the piece we deserved it and it’s pleasing to get the win.”
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