THIS was football but not as Gary Locke used to know it. A man who not so long ago was leading Hearts out in a League Cup final at Hampden has found himself having to become more accustomed to less salubrious settings in the subsequent years. As he stood at the side of a fairly beat-up artificial pitch plonked in the middle of a leafy park in East Kilbride, a tiny grandstand in front of him, a row of cars parked behind the goal to his right and the graceful, metronomic whirring of two giant windmills to his left, he must have taken a moment to wonder just how it had come to this.

Locke’s latest mission is to try to spare Cowdenbeath from being relegated for a third successive season, one that would see them spiralling out of the SPFL altogether. Having finished bottom of League Two, the team from Fife have been catapulted into the two-legged pyramid play-off against East Kilbride, the Lowland League champions who then went on to best Buckie from the Highland League. A competitive goalless draw here – that saw Cowdenbeath squander a late penalty - means it is very much in the balance going into the second leg at Central Park on Saturday.

Locke looked like he was at least enjoying himself. At venues like this – a millions miles from the noise and fury of Tynecastle, Celtic Park or Hampden – everybody can hear you scream. As he trooped off the field at full-time, he could not help but pick up on a home supporter offering a caustic jibe in his direction. Locke looked over, smiled and offered something inaudible in response. It must feel like something of a penance for Locke and his venerable assistant Billy Brown to be operating at this level but Locke is content just to be still involved.

“It’s a bit different for me coming to places like this and I’ve said that a few times since coming here,” admitted Locke. “Players not able to play in games because they have other commitments, for example, I find that a wee bit difficult. But I’ve enjoyed it in the few months that I’ve been here and it’s just been a wee bit unfortunate the way the season has gone.

“You can hear every shout from the crowd and things like that but when you’re out the game you miss the buzz of being involved on a Saturday.”

Grounds similar to East Kilbride's bijou 400-seater K Park are what await Cowdenbeath if they end up tumbling out of the senior set-up for the first time since 1881. There they would at least encounter one familiar face. East Stirlingshire were relegated out of League 2 last year by Edinburgh City and failed to return at the first attempt. It will likely be similarly fraught for Cowdenbeath if they end up falling through the trapdoor and into the Lowland League.

Theirs has been a dizzying descent. Just two years ago they were in the Championship alongside Hearts, Hibernian and Rangers. But down they went, and again last season, and now they find themselves desperately pressing the brakes to try to stop themselves careering off the cliff, the old school institution fighting for their lives against progressive new clubs like East Kilbride.

Only established seven years ago, ambition oozes out of the team known by the locals as Kilby. A Scottish Cup tie against Celtic last year was a previous high watermark but now they have bigger things in mind. The senior set-up has welcomed a raft of new entrants in recent decades but none from the west of Scotland. East Kilbride, the first of the new towns with a population of around 70,000 and seemingly one roundabout per person, ought to be large enough to sustain senior football and it will be instructive to see how they develop were they to clinch promotion. Locke, though, will be hoping they don’t get the opportunity to find out.