St Johnstone crashed out of the Premier Sports Cup after East Fife's dramatic stoppage-time equaliser, while Premiership rivals Dundee United squeezed through after Montrose blew their chance at home to Spartans. The results reshaped the Group stage standings on a busy day across the competition, with several Scottish sides confirming progress and others missing out.
Montrose only needed a point to progress to the last 16 as Group B winners, but the League 1 side lost 2-0 to visitors from the division below. St Johnstone needed a win to have at least a chance of progressing as one of the best runners-up but ended up finishing third behind Inverness Caledonian Thistle and East Fife, who also failed to make the knock-out stage.
Which sides have gone through from the groups?
Aberdeen, Ayr United, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Stenhousemuir joined Dundee United and Caley Thistle as group winners. Dundee and Partick Thistle also went through as two of the three best-placed runners-up, while the final group winner and best runner-up were set to be decided on Sunday.
St Mirren were due to win Group C if they avoided defeat at home to Dunfermline Athletic. If Dunfermline won, they were guaranteed to go through as group winners or finish second, as they would have a better goal difference than Queen's Park.
How did the key matches unfold?
Kevin Nisbet, with his sixth goal of the group stage, opened the scoring for Aberdeen against fourth-tier Kelty Hearts with his third spot kick of the season after just two minutes. The striker then set up Kjartan Kjartansson for the second, with Toyosi Olusanya firing the third just after the break.
Michael Ruth's early penalty gave Queen's Park the lead at home to third-tier Queen of the South, Tyrece McDonnell fired the second, Ben Johnstone replied in first-half stoppage time before Matthew Shiels restored the two-goal advantage for the Championship side.
Montrose were on the brink of a major achievement as group winners but fell behind after 11 minutes from a James Craigen free-kick, and their hopes ended when MacKenzie Ross fired Spartans' second after 77 minutes.
In their dead rubber at Gayfield, Ryan Dow's second-half goal gave Championship side Arbroath victory over fourth-tier Stirling Albion.
With St Mirren or Dunfermline Athletic left to battle it out as group winners on Sunday, League 2 hosts Dumbarton beat Cove Rangers from the division above thanks to goals from Leighton McIntosh and Deryn Lang.
Ross County secured progress as group winners with an emphatic win away to Airdrieonians, who will be League 1 rivals this season after both suffered relegation. Jamie Lindsay, Jack Turner and new signing Lewis Jamieson grabbed the goals.
Premiership hosts Dundee had to wait until three minutes after the break before taking the lead at home to fourth-tier Clyde through Alan Forrest. A Simon Murray penalty and two goals from Simon Westley secured progress as runners-up.
Stenhousemuir won a three-way fight for top spot in dramatic fashion following a penalty shoot-out against Livingston. The side promoted to the Championship for the first time had fought out a goalless draw with Livingston, who will be second-tier opponents this season after relegation.
Failing to take the bonus point meant Livingston missed out on taking the runners-up spot away from Partick Thistle.
In the group's dead rubber, two goals from Martin Rennie and one from Scott Shepherd gave Forfar Athletic victory over Brechin City, with Lewis Martin replying for the Highland League visitors.
League 1 champions Caley Thistle secured top spot in their group thanks to an early penalty from Alfie Bavidge away to this season's Championship rivals, Greenock Morton.
That left St Johnstone chasing second place, and it looked like Sam Stanton's stoppage-time strike against East Fife might be enough. However, the League 1 visitors pounced on a defensive error to equalise through Jack Healy, with the Fifers also taking the bonus point to clinch second place.
On-loan Dundee United striker was the star for Ayr as he scored twice and set up Jamie Murphy's fourth as the Championship side defeated third-tier Alloa Athletic. Kieran Shanks scored the hosts' other goal, while Cameron O'Donnell scored the visitors' consolation.
Premiership side Falkirk had already failed to qualify but ended their campaign with a win over fourth-tier visitors Stranraer thanks to goals from Ryan Strain, Liam Henderson headed and Ben Parkinson.
Kilmarnock progressed as group winners despite another disappointing result, being held to a goalless draw away to third-tier Peterhead and then losing the penalty shoot-out. Neil McCann's side have scored twice in four games, but the point was enough to finish a point ahead of Hamilton Academical.
Accies hammered fourth-tier visitors Elgin City, with Stuart Bannigan scoring twice and Gregor Crookston, Cameron Blues and Andy Ryan grabbing the other goals for the League 1 side.
Key Facts
- St Johnstone exited after East Fife's stoppage-time equaliser and subsequent penalty shoot-out.
- Dundee United progressed after Montrose lost 2-0 to Spartans.
- Aberdeen, Ayr United, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Stenhousemuir joined Dundee United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle as group winners.
- Dundee and Partick Thistle advanced as two of the best runners-up.
- The final group winner and best runner-up were due to be decided on Sunday.
