Brechin City 1 PARS 7, Betfred Cup Group D

FAISSAL EL BAKHTAOUI grabbed a double on his Pars return as they thrashed Brechin City in their latest Betfred Cup tie last night.

The French-Moroccan striker, who returned to the club on a season-long loan from Dundee earlier this month, scored twice in the first half as Allan Johnston's men raced into a 4-0 lead at the interval.

By the time the 25-year-old had opened his account in the 15th minute, Athletic were already two goals to the good thanks to Danny Devine and Louis Longridge.

A brace from Andy Ryan and a second Dunfermline goal for Myles Hippolyte completed a fine night's work against a City side who ended with 10 men after Guilliano Morena was sent off for a second bookable offence.

It leaves the Pars top of their group with maximum points after three wins from as many games, and a victory over Stirling Albion on Saturday will guarantee their place in the last 16.

Johnston made just one change to the starting line-up that won at Dundee on Sunday, with Joe Thomson dropping to the bench - where he was joined by James Vincent - and it didn't take the visitors long to hit the goal trail at Glebe Park.

They'd hit the net 19 times in their last five competitive visits to the Angus ground, and another convincing win was on the cards when they scored twice in 60 seconds.

Devine got things going when he flicked in James Craigen's free-kick in the seventh minute and, from the restart, El Bakhtaoui found Longridge to shoot into the bottom corner of the net.

Dunfermline made it three with just a quarter of an hour gone when El Bakhtaoui finished off a neat exchange with Hippolyte by firing home a sweet strike from the edge of the area.

The quick-fire start put the visitors on easy street and they continued to press, with Ryan Williamson having an effort cleared off the line after Conor Brennan had saved from Kallum Higginbotham.

Athletic weren't to be denied a fourth goal and it duly arrived two minutes before the break.

It was a reward for El Bakhtaoui's tenacity when, after Brennan came out to meet a short back pass by Jordan Tapping, he charged the ball down and was left with the simple task of walking it into the net.

With a view to steadily building his fitness up in mind, the striker was withdrawn at the interval in favour of Andy Ryan, while Vincent was also given 45 minutes in place of Craigen.

Darren Dods' team suffered another blow seven minutes into the second period when Morena, carded before the break, was sent packing by referee Alan Newlands for a perceived dive in the penalty area.

Shortly afterwards, they conceded a fifth goal when another substitute, Aidan Connolly, produced some good work to set up Ryan for an effort that found the back of the net.

Although Dene Shields pulled a goal back just after the hour mark, Ryan crashed home a fine second in the 64th minute, before Hippolyte completed the scoring from close range in the closing stages.

Brechin City: Brennan, McLean, Hill, Burns, C. Tapping, Lynas, J. Tapping, Morena, Henry (Spark 59), Shields (Orsi 76), Melingui (Sinclair 54).

Subs not used: Jackson, Dailly, O'Neil.

Goal: Shields (61).

Sent off: Morena (52). 

Pars: Robinson, Ashcroft, Durnan, Devine, Williamson, J. Longridge, Higginbotham, Craigen (Vincent 45), L. Longridge (Connolly 57), El Bakhtaoui (Ryan 45), Hippolyte.

Subs not used: McCann, Martin, Thomson, Gill.

Goals: Devine (7), L. Longridge (8), El Bakhtaoui (15, 43), Ryan (58, 63), Hippolyte (86).

Referee: Alan Newlands.