Premier Sports League Cup: Matchday Four Review
The Group Stages continued for six League One clubs this week in the penultimate round of matches…
Devenny and Gunn score for the Diamonds in Premiership scalp as 10-men Buddies suffer early exit
Justin Devenny and 16-year-old Kyan Gunn hit the target for Airdrieonians as they boosted their last 16 hopes with a 2-0 victory over St. Mirren at the Excelsior Stadium.
Devenny opened the deadlock for the Diamonds in the 66th minute and looks to have been a shrewd signing by rookie manager McCabe, having scored once in all three of his competitive appearances so far.
It looked as if the home side would claim a narrow win over their top-flight visitors, who had Greg Kiltie sent off shortly after the half-hour mark, until Gunn struck in the fifth minute of injury time.
The victory means the North Lanarkshire club go into Saturday’s clash against Arbroath, knowing a draw would give them a chance of progressing as one of the three best runners-up or a win would see them go through as Group E winners.
Meanwhile, the Buddies, who last won the trophy in 2013, are the first Premiership club to have been eliminated at the Group Stage and sit third on three points.
Airdrieonians player-manager, Rhys McCabe: “We said before the game that our sole focus was to go and implement our style and make it clear that regardless who we are playing, this is how we are going to play and I think you seen that we were comfortable winners in the end. I think we had a few opportunities we were wasteful with, but again we can’t complain too much. We have given ourselves a real opportunity now to go and enjoy Saturday and hopefully we will get a result.”
St. Mirren manager, Stephen Robinson: “Unacceptable. As a group, we sat in there, spoke and gave others some home truths. I take full responsibility for it and we deserved the stick we got. As a group of boys, we should be more than capable of winning the games we’ve lost. I apologise for the performance, it wasn’t good enough. We accept we are going to get criticism and so we should.”
First win for Potter as Kelty Hearts hit the ground running in five-goal thriller against Cove
John Potter earned his first victory as Kelty Hearts boss as goals from Alfredo Agyeman, Robbie McNab and Nathan Austin saw them edge past Cove Rangers in a five-goal thriller at the Balmoral Stadium.
Agyeman opened the scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute before McNab doubled their advantage seven minutes later. However, the Toonsers’ responded almost immediately as Fraser Fyvie cut the deficit in the 29th minute.
Kelty kept hold of their one-goal lead for the majority of the second-half until Austin added a third with just under 20 minutes remaining of normal time. Despite their commanding lead it was a nervy finish for the visitors as Robbie Leitch pulled a goal back in the 87th minute, in what was a late consolation for the hosts.
The win for the Maroon Machine sees them lift themselves off the bottom of Group G and are now only behind Cove on goal-difference. Potter’s men will complete their League Cup campaign away to Premiership side Livingston on Saturday as they go one step closer to unfurling the League Two flag in their first match as a League One club.
The defeat for Cove, who won promotion to the Championship from League One last season, means that they have ended any chance of progression to the knockout stage.
Cove Rangers manager, Jim McIntyre: “It’s not good enough, to be quite honest. While I think there were several things we did well in the game, what we didn’t do well was the basics and we need to be better than that. I thought Kelty deserved their victory, they could possibly have scored a goal or two more. We need to be better all over the pitch.”
Kelty Hearts manager, John Potter: “Delighted. I thought we deserved the score against a good Cove team who will do well in the Championship this year. The game was difficult, but we played well, showed good quality going forward and scored some really good goals and could’ve had one or two more on account of the second-half. So, delighted that they [the players] did everything we asked of them and it was a good one.”
O’Reilly makes it two wins from two for Stenhousemuir in shock win over Montrose
A brace from Euan O’Reilly in the space of 10 minutes deep in the second-half made it six points from six for Stenhousemuir as they pulled off a minor cup upset against Montrose at Links Park.
The game was at a stalemate heading into the final 20 minutes until O’Reilly slotted the ball home to put the Warriors ahead and later completed the scoring by doubling their advantage in the 80th minute.
Victory for the away side sees them keep their slim hopes of progression alive as they sit third on six points, one behind Premiership side Kilmarnock. The Gable Endies are three points behind in fourth and conclude their League Cup campaign away to Partick Thistle on Saturday.
Montrose manager, Stewart Petrie: “I don’t think there are a lot of positives to take from the game tonight which is disappointing at home to a team that will be pushing for promotion out of the Second Division, there is no doubt about that. I thought they [Stenhousemuir] had energy and some of their play was really good, but concentrating on myself, I thought that was below par and it was one of those performances that hasn’t been acceptable at Montrose.”
Stenhousemuir manager, Stephen Swift: “Delighted, obviously. It is a really tough place to come, it’s a team who have quite rightly proven to be up the top of League One the past couple of years, you can see their quality and we were aware we were going to set up to frustrate them. I think we done that first-half, we were devastating on the counter attack and the way we played the game, we probably should’ve had more goals.”
In Tuesday’s other match, Ross County replaced Dunfermline Athletic at the top of Group C with a 2-0 victory over Alloa Athletic at the Indodrill Stadium. On Wednesday evening, it was a first win at the Meadowbank Stadium for FC Edinburgh as they cruised past Cowdenbeath by three goals to nil and in Group D, Falkirk claimed the bonus point against Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic after the match ended 1-1 at New Dundas Park.