The Scottish Cup’s Championship Teams: 3rd Round

League action takes a hiatus this weekend, with the lower league and non league sides all doing battle in the third round of the Scottish Cup. Some Championship sides did well, such as St Mirren scoring 7 (seven) goals, while others, like Queen of the South, managed only a 0-0 draw away to Montrose. Inverness, Dundee United, Falkirk and Greenock Morton are all exempt from this round, and will join the Scottish Premiership teams in the 4th round of the draw, which will be made on November 20th. With Dundee United and Falkirk not participating in this round of the game, those two competed in league action at Tannadice Park on Sunday.

Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 1-7 St Mirren

This was a tale of two halves. St Mirren won the first half 7-0, but it was Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale who won the
second half by a goal to nil. Unfortunately, this is not really how football is played, and the scores combined saw a heavy defeat for LTHV. It took only four minutes for the Saints to take the lead, with Stelios Demetriou sliding the ball into Lewis Morgan to score. Just four minutes later and Gavin Reilly slammed the ball home from a couple of yards out to double their lead. Morgan turned from scorer to assistor ten minutes later, crossing in to Jack Baird to nod home the third goal of the day. 25 minutes into the game and Cammy Smith scored a rocket shot from around 25 yards out to turn the score into a route, making it 4-0. Cammy Smith set up Gavin Reilly for his second minutes after the half hour mark to make it 5-0, and then got his hat trick after converting an Ian McShane pass five minutes after. With three minutes to go until the break, Reilly grabbed St Mirren’s 7th and his 4th of the game, causing jubilation in the travelling Saints support. Just two minutes after the halftime break and Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale pulled a goal back through a Sean Wringe strike from the centre of the box. Was the comeback on…? No, quite frankly. It wasn’t. St Mirren appeared content with their six goal advantage, while LTHV simply did not have the quality to test the Saints defence to any great extent.

Buckie Thistle 2-3 Brechin

BRECHIN ONLY WENT AND WON A F*****G GAME!!!!! Admittedly, their victory was against a non-league side in the cup, and they are still pitifully low on points in the league, but then maybe that is all the more reason for Brechin fans to enjoy the weekend. Things certainly didn’t go to plan for Brechin from the start, as they found themselves a goal down after only three minutes, with John McLeod putting Buckie Thistle ahead. Twenty minutes afterwards and the Championship side had pulled a goal back through young Jordan Sinclair. With the game winding down towards the half time interval, John McLeod struck again, leaving Darren Dods tearing his hair out in frustration. Dods tinkered at half time and soon after the break he replaced goalscorer Sinclair with Isaac Layne. Three minutes after the substitution was made and Layne had netted, turning in a pass from Liam Witt to bring Brechin back on level terms. The equaliser was scored with half an hour to play, but it wasn’t until the 86th minute that the winner was scored. Once again, Layne was the scorer, finding space in the box to swivel and blast the ball home to deny the highland side a replay.

Montrose 0-0 Queen of the South

Ordinarily a 0-0 would be nowhere near the top of this list, but props must be given to Montrose for holding a side two divisions above them not just to a draw, but to a clean sheet as well. The result was perhaps better than the performance by Montrose, who didn’t manage to muster a single shot on target. The effort of Montrose was even larger considering the relatively first XI team put out by Gary Naismith. James McFadden, Stephen Dobbie and Derek Lyle all failed to find the net, their shots being scuffed and missed, giving goalkeeper Allan Fleming a relatively easy day at the office. Queens do need to be given a little bit of credit, having played 120 minutes and a penalty shoot out against The New Saints last weekend, and having to come back from Wales on top of that. Excuses aside, the side should be doing better against a League 2 side. Montrose will certainly be happy with the windfall they will receive from an away trip to Palmerston Park.

Queens Park 1-4 Dunfermline

Dunfermline travelled to Hampden Park for Saturday’s game, with many of their fans hoping that this is not the only trip they will make to the national stadium this year. The Pars took their time to get going, not scoring until after the
interval, but once that first goal was scored, cracks emerged in the Queens Park defence and the floodgates opened. Joe Cardle continued his return from injury by setting up Nicky Clark for the games opener, the former Rangers man heading low into the bottom corner. Dunfermline got the games second on the hour mark, scoring through a Jason Talbot long range strike. Five minutes after that and Queens Park had a goal back. David Galt scored a free kick to snap Dunfermline back to reality. Andy Ryan replaced Nicky Clark and with just over ten minutes to go he netted the third for Dunfermline. Declan McManus scored the final goal of the game with a minute to go, curling a shot from the edge of the box to condemn part timers Queens Park to defeat.

Livingston 2-0 Glenafton Athletic

Livi put in a professional display to dispose of non league Glenafton Athletic in what proved to be a very cut and dry
performance. Livingston limited the visitors to only two shots, and none on target, and generally just bullied the Cumnock based team. Alan Lithgow whipped in a corner twenty minutes in, which was turned in by Dylan Mackin to put the hosts a goal up. An hour into the match and Mackin scored again, this time a header from close range, converting a Josh Mullin cross. The game descended into quite a dirty affair, with both teams conceding a whole host of fouls towards the end. The final whistle blew and Livingston had done their job, their place in the next round was booked.

Dumbarton 1-0 Elgin City

In one of the least inspiring scores of the weekend, Dumbarton did just enough to squeeze past League 2 outfit Elgin City. A free kick resulted in Stuart Carswell rocketing the ball into the back of the net after 26 minutes. Elgin had a few chances, yet most stemmed from set pieces, the majority of which failed to cause Dumbarton any real trouble. Stephen Aitken’s side certainly didn’t set the world alight against Elgin, but a win and a clean sheet should never be shrugged off. His remit for the day would be simple: make sure you’re in the 4th round draw, and his team did just that.

Other results in the cup are as follows:

Airdrieonians 2-3 Cove Rangers

Arbroath 3-0 Berwick Rangers

Banks O’Dee 2-6 Ayr United

Clyde 0-2 East Fife

East Kilbride 3-4 Albion Rovers

Formartine United 1-0 Forfar Athletic

Peterhead 3-0 Raith

Spartans 3-0 Fraserburgh

Stenhousemuir 1-2 Alloa

Stranraer 0-1 Brora Rangers

Scottish Championship

Dundee United 3-0 Falkirk

Falkirk have been less than impressive offensively since Paul Hartley took over the reins, however they have become much more solid defensively since the former Dundee boss took over. The visitors to Tannadice offered nothing going forward all game, while they have their goalkeeper to thank for keeping the score in single digits. Fortunes appear to be different for new Dundee United boss Csaba Laszlo, who saw his new team look sharp, quick, organised and decisive today, none of which could be said about that side under Ray McKinnon of late. United dominated from minute one, and were rewarded with a goal after 21 minutes, with Australian forward Scott McDonald converting a Jamie Robson cross. Dundee United kept their relentless pressure up, securing a second goal minutes before the half. Jamie Robson, the left back, found space to turn and shoot in the box, his shot finding the back of the net , much to the delight of the home fans. Irish midfielder Willo Flood showed his tenacity by riding a number of challenges, only to drive the ball into the box and thump home a third goal for the Arabs, right on the stroke of halftime. The second half was a more reserved affair, with United happy to knock the ball around, running rings around a dejected Falkirk side. Despite United’s great performance, it was Falkirk’s Robbie Thompson who deserved a man of the match shout out, for his heroics in keeping the score low. Dundee United will hope to build on this display in the coming weeks, and will aim to keep themselves atop the league.

It was a largely good week of the Scottish Championship teams around the cup this weekend. Almost every side won their cup game, with the exception of Queen of the South, who have a replay against Montrose to play in the future. Some, namely Livingston and Dumbarton, did not set the world alight with their scores, St Mirren fans will be in seventh heaven after an impressive 7-1 victory against their non league opposition. In league action, the Arabs got off to the right start under the stewardship of Csaba Laszlo. The league action returns next week with plenty of intriguing fixtures to discuss and analyse.