St Mirren 0-1 Dunfermline Athletic – Match Report
Dunfermline Athletic qualify for the Last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup with win in Paisley. The early exchanges were evenly contested, with neither side creating any chances. The first chance of the match came the way of the hosts. Phillips whipped in a corner which found Fraser, who could not keep his header down. On 15 minutes, Amade went for goal from outside the box, which forced Chapman into a brilliant save down low. On 23 minutes, the hosts thought they opened the scoring. Phillips played a pass with the outside of his boot, into the path of Sule, who beat the defender and appeared to have got a toe on the ball ahead of the goalkeeper and played the ball into Ramos, who smashed home, however, the referee had already blown his whistle for what he deemed to be a foul on the goalkeeper, much to the disappointment of the home support. Phillips freed Richardson down the right-hand side, but Richardson, with plenty of time and space, could not find Sule with his attempted cut-back. With slightly over 5 minutes until the interval, Ramos’ corner found the head of Gogic, whose flicked header was easily caught by Oxborough. Rudden found space on the edge of the box, but his left-footed effort was well saved by Chapman, who once again got down low well. HT: St Mirren 0-0 Dunfermline Athletic Into the second period, Rudden did well to control the ball from a corner and get a shot on goal, but the striker’s effort was cleared off the line by Richardson, whose clearance came off the head of Andrew Tod and went out for a goal kick. 5 minutes into the second period, Cleall-Harding appeared to be kicked in the chest after getting his head on the ball first, but the referee saw nothing in it. Moments later, Sule received the ball and played it out wide to Mochrie, who played the ball back to Sule, who took a touch before striking, but his powerful effort went narrowly wide. Andrew Tod looked to have been played through on goal, courtesy of a lovely flick by Amade, but Gogic was present to put in a crucial last-ditch challenge. Cooper found Kane with a cross, but the striker failed to get his header on target. Robinson played a ball towards the back post, which found substitute Cooper, who could not direct his volley from close range on target. With just under 5 minutes until stoppage time, Dunfermline were awarded a penalty. Andrew Tod headed the ball into the path of Bray, who was taken down inside the area. Chris Kane stepped up, and held his nerve, slotting his penalty down the middle of Chapman’s goal. After 4 minutes of additional time, the referee brought the game to a close. As a result, Dunfermline Athletic progress to the next round. St Mirren on the other hand, still go through, but not as a seeded side. St Mirren: Chapman (6), Richardson (5), Fraser (4), Gogic (7), Fieldson (7), Carr (8), Phillips (6), Ramos (6), Taylor (8), Mochrie (7), Sule (6) Substitutes: Urminsky, King, McEvoy (6), Falconer (6), Idowu (6), Dijksteel (6), Calvin, Douglas (6), Young Dunfermline: Oxborough (7), J.Tod (7), Robinson (7), Morrison (5), Rudden (6), Kearney (6), Amade (7), Cleall-Harding (8), Corbally (6), A.Tod (7), Fraser (7) Substitutes: Terrell, Gilmour (6), R.Macleod, Kane (8), Bray (6), Davidson, E.McLeod (6), Rowe, Cooper (6)
Talking Points: Aberdeen 3-0 Kelty Hearts
Five talking points from Aberdeen’s comfortable win over Kelty Hearts. Job done for the Dons. Aberdeen rounded off their Premier Sports League Cup group stage campaign with a comfortable victory against League Two outfit Kelty Hearts. Stephen Robinson’s side won all four matches, scored eleven goals, only conceded twice and kept two clean sheets, which means that they will enter the last sixteen as a seeded side. The draw for the last sixteen will be made following the conclusion of St Mirren vs Dunfermline Athletic, which kicks off at 15:00 on Sunday. Nisbet at it again. Kevin Nisbet found the net again, converting a penalty inside two minutes. That’s now six goals, three of which coming from the penalty spot, and two assists for the Scotsman, which is a major positive for the Dons going into their league opener against Heart of Midlothian, who face Austrian outfit Sturm Graz at Tynecastle on Tuesday, looking to overturn a four goal deficit. Nesta Guinness-Walker. Left-back Nesta Guinness-Walker put in another solid performance. The 26-year-old looked dangerous going forward, getting past opposition players with ease and playing a lot of dangerous progressive passes. The Englishman also didn’t put a foot wrong when tested defensively. Impact off the bench. Tony Yogane came off the bench at half-time and looked dangerous throughout the second period. The twenty-year-old looked sharp when hitting the byline, playing some dangerous crosses into the box, drew several fouls as a result of his neat dribbling and played the cross in for the third goal, on his right foot, albeit a little fortuitously with the central defender misjudging it and the goalkeeper parrying it into the path of Olusanya, who converted into an empty net. History maker. At just fifteen years, seven months and twelve days, Andrew Fasanya made history against Kelty Hearts by becoming the youngest ever player to play for Aberdeen FC. The young talent came off the bench for the final quarter of the match and did not look out of place in the slightest. When he received the ball, he looked bright and should have probably netted, when he got on the end of a brilliant cross by Ronan, but headed over from close range. Young midfielder Findlay Marshall, who has spent the last three seasons out on loan across Scotland, also came off the bench to make his Aberdeen debut.