ALAN HAD SIX SENSE
Stubbs hails Buddies’ thrash mettle
St Mirren ..................... 6 Dumbarton ................. 0 Scott McDermott Alan Stubbs praised his rusty Saints for putting to bed last week’s trouncing by Sunderland.
Seven days after being hit for six by the Black Cats they smashed Sons by the same scoreline to book a place in the group stages of the Betfred Cup
Goals from Hayden Coulson, Ross Stewart, Jim Kellermann, Stephen McGinn and two from Cammy Smith allowed the Buds to finish second in Group H, a point behind Kilmarnock.
Stubbs said: “I’m pleased for the players to get a result at home in front of our fans.
“This competition comes early for a lot of teams and you are not exactly firing on all cylinders. So to finish on such an emphatic result then to find out we’ve gone through to the next stage are very pleasing things.”
St Mirren could have hit double figures as they outplayed Dumbarton.
Coulson hit the opener after less than two minutes, a fierce left-footed drive from 14 yards.
The loan striker hit the post in 27 minutes but goal No. 2 arrived 10 minutes from the break when Smith headed in from Paul McGinn’s cross.
Sons were 3- 0 down just after the restart when another McGinn cross set up Ross Stewart to powerfully bullet home a header. McGinn got his deserved goal in 53 minutes, an unstoppable 25-yard strike.
Sub Kellerman jabbed home his side’s fifth in the 82nd minute after a goalmouth scramble and Smith added a sixth with an outrageous lob from 35 yards.
His stunner completed a fine afternoon for the Paisley side.
It was agony for Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken who didn’t hold back on his team’s performance.
He said: “That was embarrassing and you learn a lot from the manner of a defeat like this.
“People might think we’ll do well in League One because we’ve signed so many Championship players – but that was a wake-up call. ”