1 – Annan Athletic caused the biggest shock of matchday 1 in the Betfred Cup, beating Premiership side Hamilton Academical 1-0 at Galabank. Aidan Smith was Annan’s hero, scoring with his first touch after coming on as a substitute. Saturday’s success was the second time Annan have recorded a competitive victory over a top-flight club and amazingly both were against Hamilton. The Galabankies’ other win over Accies was in January 2016 when they thumped them 4-1 in the Scottish Cup.
3 – Ayr United defeated Morton 3-1 to continue their astonishing record in the Betfred Cup group stages. The Honest Men won four out of four last season and picked up three wins out of four in 2016/17, with their only defeat coming against St Mirren. Lawrence Shankland netted 29 goals for Ayr last season and started where he left off, bagging a hat-trick against Morton, where he had a loan spell in the first half of 2017. Shankland has scored two hat-tricks in his Ayr career and both came against his former clubs – the other was against Queen’s Park back in March.
4 – The biggest win of the weekend came at Forthbank, where Dundee defeated Stirling Albion 4-0. Sofien Moussa notched a double for the Dee – the Tunisian striker absolutely loves this competition, having now scored seven goals in five Betfred Cup appearances. Dundee are unbeaten in their last 30 matches against the Binos – their last defeat was a 1-0 loss at Annfield in October 1978, when Stuart Heggie scored the only goal against a Dundee team who went on to win the First Division title. Saturday’s four-goal success was Dundee’s biggest away win in almost three years, since they defeated Kilmarnock 4-0 at Rugby Park on the opening day of the 2015/16 Premiership season.
22 – League 1 side East Fife sprung a surprise against Premiership opponents St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, holding Saints to a 0-0 draw but ultimately losing on penalties for the bonus point. The Fifers have now been involved in 22 penalty shoot-outs in national competitions, which is more than any other club in Scottish football. The Methil side have won 10 and lost 12 of those shoot-outs, giving them a win rate of 45.4%.
8 – The highest-scoring game of the weekend came at Palmerston, where Queen of the South came from 2-0 down to eventually beat Stranraer 5-3. The Doonhamers have now recorded nine consecutive victories over their rivals in the south-west, with Stranraer’s last win back in January 2006. Saturday’s game was the joint-highest scoring fixture since the group stages were re-introduced two years ago – it matched the total of eight scored in Dundee’s 6-2 win over Dumbarton in July 2016.
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