Premier Sports Cup round up as Christian Doidge hits…

Premier Sports Cup round up as Christian Doidge hits Hibs hattrick and St Mirren suffer group stage shock

The summer break feels shorter every year as the competitive Scottish football action returned with the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup.

And it was Hibs who made an opening day statement with a 5-0 win over Clyde at Easter Road. Lee Johnson’ s reign got off to the perfect start as the Hibees racked up the goals against the Bully Wee. He’s been linked with a move away from the club, but Welsh striker Christian Doidge showed exactly what the Leith club would be missing after banging in a 13 minute hat-trick. He opened the scoring with a tidy finish following Elias Melkersen’s deflected cross.

The Norwegian then found the net for a quickfire second. He got free in the box and and dispatched past Neil Parry to double the hosts’ advantage. Doidge made it a brace from him and 3-0 Hibs with a fine finish. The number nine showed great composure to send a delightful chip over Parry and in.

The treble came soon after. Chris Cadden’s cross found the striker in the area and after being thwarted at the first attempt, Doidge buried his second. It was 5-0 before 45 minutes had been played after Ewan Eenderson played in Josh Campbell, whose effort went in off a Clyde defender.

Typically after a goal rush in the first half, that was it as far as the scoring was concerned. But Johnson will be delighted that his side put on a show for his first game in the Hibs hotseat. Morton and Falkirk finished goalless in the other Group D fixture with the Bairns nicking a bonus point on penalties.

St Mirren suffered the shock of the day after a late Arbroath goal gave Dick Campbell’s men all three points in Paisley. Dylan Paterson arrived at the back post to turn home the winner at the death.

Livingston survived a late scare against Albion Rovers to start off with a 3-2 win. Scott Pittman, Josh Mullin and Bruce Anderson had the Lions three goals to the good after just 48 minutes. Ayrton Sonkur and Michael Patin hit back to set up a nervy finish, but Davie Martindale’smen saw it out.

Inverness CT edged a tight game in Fife in the other Group G game. George Oakey’s 89th minute goal gave them a 1-0 win over Kelty Hearts .

Gary Bowyer enjoyed a stress-free afternoon for his first competitive match in charge of Dundee . Goals from Niall McGinn, Alex Jakubiak and Cammy Kerr eased them to a 3-0 win over Hamilton , who had Brian Easton sent off with ten minutes to go.

Premier Sports Cup results in full: