Airdrie's young guns shot themselves in the foot again after letting their lead slip in a five-goal thriller where Cowdenbeath came out on top.

Despite the Diamonds opening the scoring in 12 minutes through Jordan Moore, just seconds later Mark McKenzie got the Blue Brazil back on level terms before edging ahead in the second half.

It comes after the basement boys thew away a 3-1 lead at home against Dunfermline last week and ended up drawing 3-3.

Moore and David Lilley returned to the starting line-up for the visitors having been on the bench against the Pars, and the home side had a trialist between the sticks - former Morton goalkeeper Colin Stewart.

But it was opposite number Robbie Thomson who was kept busy in the opening ten minutes - blocking early shots from McKenzie.

With their first proper attack of the game, Airdrie's loanee Steven Hetherington played a through-ball to fellow loan-star Jordan Moore and his clever turn in the box confused the Cowden keeper and allowed him room to slot home the opener.

However Airdrie haven't learned from their lessons yet as right from the restart the Blue Brazil attacked, and when Greg Stewart got the ball in the box it seemed inevitable he would equalise. And he did.

Despite the setback the Diamonds tried to get ahead in the game again. Trialist keeper Stewart saved a close shot from Hetherington in the 20th minute, and easily collected Ricki Lamie's header from the resulting corner.

Cowdenbeath nearly made Airdrie pay though as Craig Moore was allowed far too much space in the box by Marc Warren as he brought the ball down but his shot went just wide.

Warren showed some glimpses of good attacking ability though, with a great cross being swung in forcing defender Thomas O'Brien to clear any potential danger.

The Blue Brazil thought they had the least just before the half hour mark when Greg Stewart's shot went through the legs of Robbie Thomson, but the young keeper managed to turn and save the ball from crossing the line.

Five minutes into the second half Craig Moore had the ball in the back of the net - but the linesman ruled that he was offside.

Just after an hour played and Airdrie had a golden chance to take the lead again. Substitute Jamie Bain's corner found Marc Warren who had a shot saved and Willie McLaren's shot from the rebound hit the post before being cleared.

With 20 minutes to go though, Cowdenbeath proved what happens with some clinical finishing. Jamie Stevenson's free-kick from far out was deflected out for a corner, and when the ball eventually came to Greg Stewart he finally managed to beat Thomson.

Bain, playing as a striker, had another great opportunity to grab a goal from Nathan Blockley's shot/cross but Stewart managed to keep the youngster at bay.

Eventually Airdrie's break came though, as Jordan Kirkpatrick claimed the ball from 20 years out and his adventurous shot found the back of the net to make it 2-2.

Yet another chance came to Bain five minutes later when he and Buchanan were two-on-two. Instead of squaring to his team-mate Bain saw the glory but screwed his shot wide.

It was a miss he would rue as Cowdenbeath stormed back up the pitch and Moore hit the winner from close range to pile on the misery.

The Diamonds remain adrift at the bottom of the table, with with the next two games at home - against Raith and Falkirk - Jimmy Boyle will be looking to make home advantage count for the first time since the opening day of the season.

Douglas Barrie at Central Park.

Photographs © Robert Dalzell. Click to view full size.