Weekend in numbers

19 – St Johnstone defeated Greenock Morton 3-0 at McDiarmid Park to continue their strong start in the Premier Sports Cup. Two goals from Jamie Gullan and one from Reece McAlear were enough to hand Simo Valakari’s side a second victory which moves them a point clear at the top of Group F. Saints are now unbeaten in their last 19 matches against Morton in all competitions, a run which stretches back 20 years – the last Morton win in this fixture was a 3-2 success in the Challenge Cup in September 2026. Including the final four fixtures of last season, Saints have now kept six consecutive clean sheets – this is their best run since 2018, and just one short of their club record of seven.

4 – Holders St Mirren made it two wins out of two in the Premier Sports Cup thanks to a 4-0 victory over Cove Rangers at Balmoral Stadium. Roland Idowu, Samuel Ramos, Luke Douglas and Jalmaro Calvin were all on the scoresheet as Craig McLeish’s took another step towards the next round. Saints have won 4-0 in each of their opening two matches – this is the first time in almost exactly 30 years they’ve scored four or more goals in back-to-back matches – the last time they did so was in August 1996, when they recorded 4-0 wins over Berwick Rangers in the Challenge Cup and East Fife in Division 1.

3 – Ayr United defeated Edinburgh City 2-0 at Somerset Park to make it three wins out of three in the Premier Sports Cup. Owen Stirton and Kenzie Mitchell scored the goals as Gary Naysmith continued his perfect start to life in Ayrshire. Naysmith is the first permanent Ayr United manager in over 100 years to win his first three games in charge – the last one to do so was Archie Buchanan in January and February 1926. It should be noted that the caretaker team of Mark McGeown and Brian Reid won all three of their games in March 2007 before Neil Watt took the job. This was the fourth competitive meeting of the Honest Men and the Citizens, and Ayr have won all four without conceding a goal.

5 – East Kilbride kept alive their hopes of progression in the Premier Sports Cup thanks to a 5-3 victory over Dumbarton at the Bumblebee Stadium. A Cami Elliott hat-trick and goals from Darragh O’Connor and Craig McGuffie made it two wins out of three for Mick Kennedy’s side. Elliott also netted an early hat-trick last season – four of his seven goals in the last campaign came in a 5-0 win over Forfar Athletic last August. Kilby are level on points with St Mirren but have played a game more – the sides meet in Paisley on Tuesday night in a potential group decider. Kilby have scored eight goals in their two home games so far – continuing where they left off last season, when they scored 23 in their final seven matches at home.

2 – Montrose beat Stirling Albion 2-0 at Forthbank to continue their perfect start to their Premier Sports Cup campaign. Goals from Ewan Loudon and Blair Lyons made it two wins out of two for Stewart Petrie’s side, who recorded an impressive win over Dundee United in midweek. If the Gable Endies can take at least four points from matches against Arbroath (A) and Spartans (H), they will reach the last 16 of the League Cup for the first time in 40 years – the last time they did so was back in 1986/87.