@splstats takes a look at some of the numbers behind the weekend games, focusing on Dundee United, Queen of the South, Alloa Athletic, Forfar Athletic and Livingston.
1 Saturday’s clash between Dundee United and Peterhead at Tannadice was the first ever meeting of the two sides in a competitive match. The clubs marked the occasion with a five-goal thriller, with United eventually running out 3-2 winners after extra time. Peterhead have now faced 38 of their 41 fellow SPFL clubs in competitive fixtures - Hearts and St Johnstone plus new boys Edinburgh City are the only sides the Blue Toon have yet to encounter.
7 Queen of the South cruised into the last 16 of the IRN-BRU Cup after an emphatic 7-1 victory over Stenhousemuir at Palmerston. The Doonhamers have now recorded five wins in a row in all competitions, their best winning streak since being promoted in 2013. Saturday marked the first time that Queens had scored seven goals in a competitive match since they defeated Clyde by the same scoreline in April 2009. Stephen Dobbie was on target in both matches – he netted a double on Saturday and found the net four times back in 2009.
10 Alloa Athletic made it a perfect 10 on Saturday as they continued their 100% start to the season with a 3-0 victory over East Fife at the Indodrill Stadium. Jack Ross has recorded a stunning 10 consecutive victories in 2016/17 – the Wasps top League 1 with four wins out of four, have made it to the Betfred Cup quarter-finals courtesy of five straight wins, and have now progressed to round four of the IRN-BRU Cup. Alloa have scored 29 goals in those 10 matches, conceding just five. Jordan Kirkpatrick and Greig Spence both found the net on Saturday, taking their tallies for the season to eight and seven goals respectively.
6 League 2 Forfar Athletic recorded the biggest upset of the weekend by beating Championship side Raith Rovers 3-2 at Station Park. Forfar have now recorded six straight victories in all competitions, their best winning streak since March and April of 2010, when they managed seven on the bounce. You certainly couldn’t accuse Gary Bollan’s side of being boring – Saturday’s win was the third 3-2 victory in their winning run, and they also beat Cowdenbeath 4-3. All in all, they have scored 18 goals and conceded 11 in their last six games, an average of almost five per game.
5 Livingston ended the involvement of the Premiership U20 sides in the IRN-BRU Cup after crushing Celtic 5-1 in Saturday’s televised match. Livi raced into a 5-0 lead within 40 minutes before comfortably seeing out the match to seal their spot in round four It was the first time the Lions had scored five goals in a half of football since the second half of their 8-0 win over Stranraer in the League Cup in August 2012. David Hopkin’s side have been in tremendous goalscoring form at the Tony Macaroni Arena, netting a whopping 14 goals in their last three home matches.
