League One Alloa handed Premier Sports Cup second-round trip to Rangers
The Wasps – the lowest-ranked team remaining in the tournament – were surprise winners of their group and will face Russell Martin's Gers at Ibrox on the weekend of August 16/17.
Holders Celtic will host newly-promoted Falkirk in one of four all-Premiership ties. The others see Kilmarnock host Dundee United, Livingston at home to Hibernian, and St Mirren play Hearts in Paisley.
St Johnstone, relegated from the top flight last term, will host Motherwell while Aberdeen have been drawn away to Championship side Morton.
There is guaranteed to be at least one second-tier side in the last eight after Championship pair Partick Thistle and Ayr United were pitted together.
St Mirren and Ayr became the last two sides to secure their second-round places on Sunday when Killian Phillips' first-half double set the Paisley men on course for a 2-1 home victory over the Honest Men in Group D.
While the Buddies topped the section, Scott Brown's side also progressed as one of the three best runners-up despite losing their perfect record in the competition against their William Hill Premiership hosts.
Dunfermline had been waiting in the wings hoping to profit from any Saints slip-up or an unlikely nine-goal defeat for Ayr, but their hopes of progressing were dashed by events in Paisley.
The Buddies went ahead after Phillips fired home Roland Idowu's cutback from 15 yards out in the 16th minute, and the recently-capped Republic of Ireland midfielder doubled his tally in the 38th minute when he turned home another Idowu delivery from just outside the six-yard box.
Ayr pulled one back in the 64th minute when Kevin Holt headed home Dom Thomas' corner to ensure a nervy finale for the hosts. Dundee – eliminated after losing their opening two fixtures – were the only top-flight side to fail to make it through the group stage.
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BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Fine margins: How Norris lost out to Piastri in Belgium
Oscar Piastri's victory in the Belgian Grand Prix underlined the fine margins that will likely decide the world championship battle with his team-mate Lando Australian bounced back after two consecutive victories for Norris on a weekend on which the advantage swung back and forth between the McLaren drivers almost from session to pair arrived at Spa-Francorchamps on the back of two consecutive wins for Norris, one from the front in Austria, one somewhat fortuitous after a penalty for Piastri at took a pole position each in Belgium - one for Piastri for the sprint, and one for Norris for the grand prix. And the race turned on a few key drive was from the top drawer - he took the lead from Norris at the rolling start after a few exploratory laps behind the safety car in the wet by being, by Norris' admission, a little braver through Eau Rouge on the first he managed his position with careful judgement to make his medium-compound tyres last to the end while under pressure from the closing Norris on more durable Norris may look back on a few small errors in which he could have done better. He said he "couldn't have won". He probably could not. But he could have given himself a slither of a chance, despite the difficult position he was in by leading at the start. The start Piastri had demonstrated how difficult it is for the driver on pole to lead by the end of the first lap at Spa by losing the sprint race win to Red Bull's Max Dutchman slipstreamed past Piastri up the hill to Les Combes, and then held the McLaren at bay for 15 laps, while Norris followed closely in the grand prix, it was Norris in front, with Piastri in second and Piastri had been thinking about the opportunity this presented him since losing out on pole the day team boss Andrea Stella said: "This weekend, Oscar, if anything, the only inaccuracy was in qualifying, where his laps weren't perfect."At the same time, we have to say that after the sprint qualifying, he said, 'Yeah, I'm in pole position, but maybe this is not the right place to be in pole position.'"And as a joke, after the qualifying yesterday, he said, 'That was not my best lap in Q3, but perhaps this is the best place not to have the best lap in Q3.'"Sure enough, Piastri took the lead on lap one of the grand prix, just as Verstappen had the day before."I had a good run out of Turn One," he said, "and then tried to be as brave as I could through Eau Rouge and was able to stay pretty close. After that, the slipstream did the rest for me."When I watched the onboard back, it didn't look quite as scary as it felt in the car. I knew that I had to be very committed to pull that off."But Norris could have done a better job. For a start, he failed to build himself a gap over the finish line by arguably going too early at the restart. Then he made a mistake at La Source, which allowed Piastri to be right on his tail approaching Eau Rouge."I didn't have the best Turn One," Norris said. "So it's hard to know how much that played a part. At the same time, Oscar came past me pretty easily. So even if I had a better Turn One, his run and the slipstream probably still would have got me."Stella said: "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart. At the same time, I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line." The pit stops The next turning point was the stops. Piastri had first choice as leader, and went for mediums with a stop on lap could have pitted Norris at the same time - the so-called double-stack - but went for another lap, and decided for hard tyres, to go to the end. Piastri was planning the same but didn't know whether the mediums would make had been just under two seconds behind when Piastri pitted, and was nine seconds back when he rejoined the seconds of that offset can be accounted for by a slower pit stop, the other five by the extra lap on worn intermediates. A double-stack would have cost less time - but then he'd have been on the mediums, and the race effectively already said: "To catch Oscar from that gap is quite an achievement. I gave it a good shot, but just not close enough."Piastri said: "It was quite a late decision to pit on the lap we did, but there's risks either way. If I was in Lando's position, I probably would have done the same thing. At that point, it seemed like the safest thing to do was go on the medium, because the hard is two steps harder here."Stella said: "We did consider double stacking. At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do."Actually, I thought at some stage that that would have been a very good move, but I have to say that Oscar managed a very solid and strong stint on the medium tyres. Even if Lando was, on average, a little bit faster, that was not enough to attack Oscar at the end." The chase Norris now had to try to chase Piastri down. He got to within 3.4 seconds by the end of the race, but he probably lost a little more than that with three errors during his ran wide at the fast Pouhon double left-hander on lap 26, costing himself 1.3 seconds, then had lock-ups at La Source on laps 33 and 43, costing a total of just under three a perfect race might have given him a shot at Piastri on the last lap or two. But given how difficult overtaking proved at Spa in both races, the chances of him actually getting by must be considered slim in the said: "Yes, Lando had a couple of lock-ups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine that cost him time. I think this, overall, prevented us from having an interesting battle, possibly, at the end."But, in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in corner one a little bit of a time loss."It's very difficult when you push so much in these conditions. It's very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip, and also it's not easy to always keep the car on the racing line when you have the maximum grip, considering that, away from that, you can lose it very rapidly because of the track being still a little damp." The lessons Piastri's sixth win in 13 races extends his lead in the see-sawing battle to 15 points before the next race in Hungary this weekend, scene last year of Piastri's maiden victory, in somewhat controversial circumstances. Stella called Piastri's drive "very, very, very high quality", but added: "We have two drivers which to the standards that even myself in my career have been close to, driving with multiple World Champions, I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the drivers' world championship."This is quite the compliment considering Stella engineered both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso during his Ferrari years earlier this said: "The difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution."The execution is what is going to make the main difference. We, as a team, we will try and make sure that from a reliability point of view, from a team operation point of view, we are as good as possible, such that it will be the drivers deciding their own outcome in terms of competing for the drivers' championship." Should the race have started earlier? The other main talking point at Spa was whether the race should have started earlier - either at the original start time, or a few minutes before it eventually Hamilton and Max Verstappen were of the view that it should have and that officials had been too said the decision "didn't make sense". He said that at the scheduled start time "it was not even raining" and added: "Of course between Turn One and five there was quite a bit of water, but two or three laps behind the safety car it would have been a lot more clear. And the rest of the track was anyway ready to go. It's a bit of a shame."Hamilton added: "I kept shouting, like, it's ready to go, it's ready to go. And they kept going around and around and around."However, both acknowledged that the decisions were made after the drivers had urged officials following the last race at Silverstone - in which one car rammed another unsighted at a restart in the rain - not to go too Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc both pointed out the extreme dangers of Spa, and referenced the two fatalities that have happened there in junior categories in recent said: "For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early. It's a constant discussion, and we'll probably feed the people that made this decision back that maybe it was a little bit on the late side, but I wouldn't have changed anything."Piastri added: "The past few years, particularly here, we've given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything. I think that's what we did today."If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No."
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Propper has no regrets despite swift Twente return
Robin Propper says "I haven't regretted" joining Rangers despite the Dutch centre-half returning to Twente for an undisclosed fee after only a season with the Scottish Premiership 31-year-old has signed a four-year contract with the Eredivisie club after being told he was not in new Rangers head coach Russell Martin's plans."Last season, I had the opportunity to play for a major international team," he told Twente's website."I couldn't pass up the opportunity, even though the decision wasn't easy, especially since we were close to the start of the new season with Twente. Nevertheless, I decided to make that choice. I haven't regretted it."It was a great year, both personally and in terms of sport, with all sorts of new experiences."However, Propper said "the choice isn't difficult" to return to the club where he was captain and where the team spirit "is so strong".Of his time in Glasgow, he added: "It was an eye-opener for me. I wasn't aware of how foreign boys feel when they come to the Netherlands. I think they need attention and time."In a year you experience a lot. I have noticed that now. In a foreign country, certain things are different. I'm glad that I was able to experience that."I played a lot of games. I had a lot of beautiful moments. Also a little less. "Of course I want to say that I had a great adventure at a beautiful club with a rich history. I always wanted that in my career."
Daily Record
7 hours ago
- Daily Record
Oisin McEntee warns Hearts will be the team everyone hates playing as Derek McInnes fundamental kicks in
The Irishman shone in an all action display as Sunderland were swatted aside at Tynecastle ahead of Aberdeen Premiership opener Oisin McEntee reckons teams will hate facing Hearts after new boss Derek McInnes put the players through a gruelling pre-season. The Jambos are in good shape going into their Premiership opener against Aberdeen a week tonight after building on four League Cup group wins with a 3-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday. The Black Cats have spent in excess of £100million to get ready for their Premier League return. But that financial gulf did not matter as the McInnes ' men gave them a torrid time at Tynecastle with their high-pressing game. That style of play demands fit players and McEntee insists that will not be an issue after coming through his hardest pre-season. The 24-year-old said: 'You don't want teams to enjoy playing against you and we have players in the team who have that bit of quality. 'We have a good mix of players who want to be competitive and win the ball back to let the players go and express themselves. 'A lot of work goes into it on the training ground in terms of that style and it's about fitness as well. 'It's high intensity, it is going to be quite a lot of work. 'But it's paying dividends when it comes to the games. It feels a lot easier than other pre-seasons, in terms of when you go into the game you feel ready, you feel at it. 'It's been really enjoyable. It's probably been my hardest pre-season in terms of double sessions but you need that going into the Premiership season. 'You need to be fit, you need to be strong. I feel really good for it, my body feels really good.' As a midfield enforcer who came in from League Two Walsall at the start of this summer, he's loving the demands put on him by McInnes. McEntee said: 'That's my kind of game when I'm in the middle and I really enjoy that side, the nasty side of it – winning second balls, first balls and just doing my job for the team. 'It's been enjoyable. Wherever the gaffer wants me to play, I'll play – I don't mind. Playing alongside Cammy Devlin in there is great too. 'He's an unbelievable player and it shows with how many games he's played at this club. He's played at this level for a long time, so it's enjoyable having him in there backing me up.' At the top end of the park, Hearts have players who can add some flair in fellow summer signings turned crowd pleasers Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis. McEntee added: 'Those two boys can mix it too, winning the ball back. 'The look of Braga, he's physical, he's winning the ball back on Saturday but has that bit of class too. They've been unbelievable since they came in.' Hearts did not look back after taking the lead in Craig Gordon's testimonial courtesy of Braga 11 minutes in. Lawrence Shankland and Kyziridis found the net after the break with a scoreline that did not flatter the Gorgie outfit. McInnes has added seven recruits this summer and Burkina Faso winger Pierre Landry Kabore is expected to complete his move today. Hearts have also made an offer for Valur Reykjavik midfielder Tomas Bent Magnusson and McEntee insists all the new boys have settled in well. He said: 'That's testament to the recruitment, bringing good people in, first and foremost. We went to Spain and everyone gelled really well. It's been a really enjoyable pre-season getting to know people.'
