Holders County suffer shock exit after Alloa sting

TIn the hat-trick of games the Lanarkshire club have played in the Betfred Cup so far, they have found themselves dominating in the early period and potentially should have been a couple of goals to the good within the first 10 minutes.

Against East Stirlingshire at Fir Park last night, there were several murmurs of discontent among the home support as a glut of chances that would have seen them out of sight of their Lowland League opponents were scorned.

As it transpired, the majority of the soggy 2503 observing this Group F tie had to wait until eight minutes into the second half before the apprehension was dispersed by the same man who performed the feat on Saturday.

In that game at Galabank, Motherwell were tied 1-1 with Annan Athletic with Marvin Johnson scoring for the visitors, but it was his ingenuity in the second period that provided two assists to give the Fir Park outfit a 3-0 win their first victory of the revamped League Cup.

Three days later and it was his strike that settled the Ladbrokes Premiership side against Lowland League East Stirling as he scudded the ball under goalkeeper Darren Dolan to send Motherwell into the last game with Stranraer still with a solid chance of advancing into the last 16.

Similar to the first game against Rangers, Well had a handful of clear chances and could have netted twice in the first two minutes. Instead, ROSS County manager Jim McIntyre blasted referee Stephen Finnie for not awarding his side a penalty in their Scottish League Cup exit to Alloa.

The Wasps’ Jason Marr made contact with goalscorer Alex Schalk with County trailing 3-2 but Finnie adjudged that the defender made contact with the ball first.

McIntyre firmly believes the they were frustrated by a hardworking team already eliminated from the competition.

IN THE end, it was the creativity and ability of that man Johnson that proved the difference. Played predominantly on the left, the winger stated his intent immediately. With less than 50 seconds on the clock, Johnson picked the ball out on the right, used full-back Rich- decision changed the course of the match.

“The referee has made the worst decision of the night,” he said. “It’s a stonewall penalty on Alex Schalk. I have looked at it several times.

“It was a poor, poor decision at a crucial time in the match where I thought we had the ascendency.”

The defeat leaves the current holders on four points, behind second-placed Raith ard Tait as a decoy before going on a wandering run beyond six defenders and into the centre edge of the area before his shot was snuffed out.

He went even closer just 20 minutes with a spectacular volley from a Chris Cadden knock down that flew just wide from 15 yards out.

It seemed inevitable that a goal would come after Scott McDonald twice went close. And Johnson looked destined Rovers in Betfred Group D and unable to catch their rivals with one game left.

The manager was seething at his side’s display. “The performance was embarrassing. We were nowhere near good enough. I can only apologise to our fans.”

There was drama in Group H when Clyde claimed a lastgasp win over Albion Rovers thanks to Dylan Easton’s 90th-minute penalty. to be the man to get it. The strike came on 53 minutes with the ball played into his feet on the edge of the box.

With his back to goal and centre-half Andrew Grant breathing down his neck, a quick drop of the shoulder and a swift kick dispatched the ball under Dolan.

David Grant almost hauledEast Stirling back in to the game but his swivel and shot ghosted just wide.

Midfielder Ross Davidson had slotted Rovers ahead at Cliftonhill after an hour, but the Bully Wee hit back with Peter MacDonald’s well-hit leveller on 73 minutes.Easton’s winner, though, counts for nothing as Kilmarnock’s win at Berwick means Clyde can’t qualify for the last 16.

There were goals aplenty at Hampden as Airdrie beat Queen’s Park 8-7 on penalties after a six-goal thriller.

Instead, it was left to Motherwell to grasp this game and charge towards Stair Park with a clear objective and a healthy goal difference.

A Cadden cross picked out the unmarked McDonald on 76 minutes as he nodded in from six yards, while Cadden grabbed his own goal as Tait’s driving cross and cutback was swept into the bottom left corner by last season’s Youth Cup-winning captain.

Adam Cummins converted a third-minute corner, but Airdrie took control before the half-hour mark thanks to three goals in 12 minutes from Andy Ryan, Adam Brown and Iain Russell.

Aiden Malone found the top corner three minutes after the interval and Sean Burns levelled with 11 minutes left following a mix-up i n the Diamonds defence, with the drama continuing after the 90 minutes.