Falkirk climbed to the top spot thanks to a double from Ethan Ross and Brian Graham’s first goal for the club. The Bairns fell behind to Josh Fowler’s early strike for Queen’s Park, but rallied to remain unbeaten in the competition.

Cove Rangers defeated Brechin City 3-0 at Glebe Park in Group A’s other match. David Eguaibor gave the visitors a 2-0 lead before Mitch Megginson completed the scoring.

Cove has seven points, one behind Falkirk, and Spartans has six in third place. Falkirk finish their group-stage matches against Spartans on Saturday, while Cove travel to fourth-place Queen’s Park.

Partick Thistle and Ross County can still win Group B after both Championship teams defeated lower-league opponents.

Aidan Fitzpatrick and Tsoanelo Letsosa led Thistle to a 2-0 victory over Queen of the South, while Ronan Hale’s hat-trick helped County defeat Edinburgh City by eight goals.

Thistle leads the group with nine points, but County (seven points) can move ahead of them when the sides meet in Dingwall on Saturday.

Three first-half goals extended Ayr United’s perfect League Cup start as they defeated Forfar at Somerset Park.

Dom Thomas, George Oakley, and Curtis Main all scored goals for Scott Brown’s side, which has nine points from three games.

Meanwhile, Arbroath’s Arran Pettifer scored a hat-trick before halftime, securing a 6-0 win over Annan Athletic. A draw away to St Mirren on Sunday would be enough to secure Ayr’s top spot.

Dunfermline Athletic defeated Hamilton Academical 2-1 at East End Park. Andrew Tod put the hosts ahead before half-time, and while Oli Shaw equalised after the break, Lee Kilday’s own goal sealed all three points for Dunfermline moments later.

Neil Lennon’s side has six points and will face Stirling Albion on Saturday to finish the group stage.

In Group F, there were plenty of goals as Inverness Caledonian Thistle stopped East Kilbride’s momentum and St Johnstone defeated Raith Rovers.

East Kilbride, a newcomer to the SPFL, had won their previous two matches but lost 6-2 against their Highland opponents.

St Johnstone made it three wins from three with goals from Jamie Gullan, Josh McPake, and Makenzie Kirk in a 3-1 victory.

The Perth team leads the group with nine points and will look to make it four consecutive victories when they host Elgin City on Saturday. If they make a mistake, Inverness could leapfrog them with a win at Rovers.

Tawanda Maswanhise was the star of the show for Motherwell as they became the first side to progress to the knockout stages.

The Zimbabwe forward doubled Motherwell’s advantage with a cool low finish after Apostolos Stamatelopoulos had tapped in the opener, but his second of the evening was even better.

Cutting inside from the left, Maswanhise bent a delightful curling shot into the top corner from outside the box to seal all three points.

Elsewhere in Group G, Clyde beat Stenhousemuir 4-3 on penalties after the sides drew 2-2.

Kilmarnock were left frustrated by Kelty Hearts, but Stuart Kettlewell’s side still top Group H with one match to play.

The Ayrshire side dominated possession and had 19 shots but were unable to break Kelty down in 90 minutes and were then beaten 4-3 on penalties.

East Fife had no such trouble against bottom side Brora Rangers – Alan Trouten scoring twice in a 3-0 win.

Kilmarnock have seven points from three matches, with both East Fife and Livingston a point further back. Kelty have five points from their three outings.

All to play for then on Saturday, as Kilmarnock host East Fife and Livingston take on Kelty.

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