Hearts dominant again, one top-flight club in big trouble, free-scorers hit eight goals – Premier Sports Cup.

The latest from the Premier Sports Cup, as clubs compete to join Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, Dundee United, and Aberdeen in the last 16.

Hearts scored four goals in their third consecutive Premier Sports Group E match, securing their place in the competition’s last 16. Following victories over Dunfermline Athletic and Hamilton Accies, Derek McInnes’ Jambos easily defeated League 2 opponents Stirling Albion 4-0 at Forthbank Stadium.

Hearts are six points clear at the top of the pool going into their final group match at home to Dumbarton on Wednesday, and they can only be overtaken if they lose to the Sons and there is an unlikely goal difference swing.

Hearts’ defender Craig Halkett headed home an Alexandros Kyziridis cross in the 13th minute, and Claudio Braga added a second goal ten minutes later with a diving header.

Kyziridis, making his Hearts debut, scored seven minutes before halftime to put the Jambos ahead, and while the second half was largely underwhelming, centre-back Stuart Findlay scored his second goal in as many games at 80 minutes.

“We did some good stuff, but I’d like us to do better,” McInnes said afterwards. “I wanted us to set a marker at halftime, but I didn’t have as much fun as I had hoped, and there were no scares. But we have scored 12 goals and are top of the group, so there are a lot of encouraging things.”

Chastening day for Dundee

Earlier in the day, Dundee manager Steven Pressley suffered his second defeat as Alloa dashed the visitors’ Premier Sports Cup hopes. Dundee suffered another 1-0 defeat at the Indodrill Stadium after losing their opening game to Airdrie.

The decisive moment came midway through the second half, when Luke Graham could only turn Steven Buchanan’s shot into his own net while attempting to clear in the goalmouth. With one more game to play, Alloa now leads Group C by nine points, three ahead of Airdrie.

It was not a good day for Steven Pressley and Dundee. | SNS Group”We weren’t good enough,” Pressley admitted afterwards. “I’ve talked a lot about how we need reinforcements, but the reality is that with the players we had on the pitch today, we could have done a lot better. And that is my responsibility; I take ownership of it.

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