YOU can leave Scott Allan out of the starting line-up but you simply cannot keep him out of the headlines. Making his first appearance for Hibernian since handing in a transfer request in a bid to engineer a move to Rangers, Allan entered the fray after 66 minutes to be greeted by some sparse pantomime jeers.

That dissent was quickly drowned out by raucous applause from the vast majority of Hibernian supporters and, five minutes later, the stadium was united in acclaim for the mercurial midfielder. Allan picked up the ball on the left flank and drifted infield, navigating several desperate challenges before lashing a right-footed drive beyond Montrose keeper Ross Salmon to make the score 2-0.

“I thought the reception he got when he was warming up was good and the boos were drowned out by the cheers from our fans,” said Hibernian head coach Alan Stubbs. “The Hibs fans like Scott Allan – they like quality players and he falls into that bracket.

“It’s been difficult for him and it hasn’t been easy for the football club, but I think both of us are dealing with it really well.”

Hibs were already well on course to claim safe passage to the League Cup second round after Scott Martin gave them a first-half lead, with the 18-year-old latching on to Alex Harris’s pass and slotting home his maiden goal for the club from inside the box. Gloss was applied when Jason Cummings, who turned 20 yesterday, produced an instinctive turn and close-range shot to make it 3-0.

Queen of the South chose the hard way to secure their place in tomorrow’s draw, squeezing past rivals Annan Athletic 4-3 in a tie packed with drama.

Annan, who trailed to a fabulous Ryan Conroy volley at half-time, fought back to lead 2-1 and then 3-2 with goals from Smart Osadolor and Peter Weatherson (2) after Derek Lyle had countered for Queens.

It took an injury-time goal from Dale Hilson to send the match into extra-time, where Lyle netted the winning goal. But the home side ended up with nine men after Steven Black and Rabin Omar were red-carded.

Dunfermline Athletic beat Cowdenbeath 5-1 in front of a crowd of 2,756 at East End Park. Fayssal El-Bakhtaoui and Shaun Byrne both scored twice but the pivotal point of the match was a red card for Cowdenbeath’s goalkeeper at 2-1 for fouling Ryan Wallace, who scored the resulting spot-kick.

Livingston could not find a way past Clyde goalkeeper John Gibson in normal time but Jordan White scored to see them home 1-0 in extra-time. Morton beat Elgin City 5-0, with new loan signing Denny Johnstone on target and Jon Scullion scoring twice. Stefan McCluskey and Ross Forbes also netted.

Berwick Rangers came back from 2-0 down to beat Alloa Athletic 3-2. Iain Flannigan scored twice for Alloa but Darren Lavery and David Morris took the tie to extra-time before David Banjo scored the winner.

Raith Rovers cruised through 3-0 against Albion Rovers with Lewis Vaughan, Kyle Benedictus and Rory McKeown all on target.

Forfar Athletic won 2-0 at Queen’s Park, both goals coming in the first half – Derek Young netting the first and Danny Denholm scoring the second.

East Fife squeezed past Dumbarton 5-4 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 after extra-time, and Ayr United, 2-0 winners over Brechin, Airdrieonians (1-0 at Stirling Albion) and Stranraer, 2-0 winners over Stenhousemuir, also made it through.