WHILE Cowdenbeath have conceded 11 goals in a week boss Liam Fox feels he has learned a great deal about his side.

The Blues completed their three game run against Premiership and Championship opposition on Saturday when they took on Dunfermline and Mr Fox saw his team finally beaten 3-0 by the Pars.

And he now wants his team to go to Arbroath tonight (Wednesday) and get their first Betfred Cup points on the board.

The record shows that Cowden lost 1-2 to Inverness Caley Thistle, 6-1 to Dundee United and 3-0 to the Pars, but he found it a great learning arena for his team.

He said this week: “ We knew it was going to a tough week when the fixtures came out but as a team we learned a great deal from these matches.

“Clearly we were playing against far better teams than we will meet in League 2 but each match was a very useful exercise, I felt.

“The Dundee United game was a bad one from our point of view for we conceded two goals far too early in the game and were punished for careless errors.

“However, on Saturday, against Dunfermline, we bounced back superbly and for almost an hour there was not much in the game.”

He added: “I have learned a lot about my players from the games and now we have to put what this into action when we close our Betfred cup programme on Wednesday at Arbroath.

“We have a fortnight before League 2 starts and we have to be fully ready for the visit of Elgin City on August 6.”

While they have no game on Saturday Cowdenbeath will play a friendly at Methil against League 1 team East Fife as a final warm-up for the league.

He added: “These games with the clubs from a higher division have helped us fitness wise and we have been asked a lot of tough questions.

“This hard week will hold us in good stead when the league programme comes around.”

Cowden will hope to have strikers Gary Glen and Kris Renton available for the East Fife friendly, although the latter cannot play in the league opener through suspension from his days in the junior ranks.

Brian Ross made his debut against Dunfermline and had a sound game in midfield and looks like a player who will make an impact in League 2.

The team is also likely to have left-back Shaun Rutherford available for Saturday’s friendly although Kenny Adamson (pictured) is still a few weeks away yet.