Brad Lyons had a debut to forget for St Mirren as the Rovers midfielder was sent off inside the opening half hour.

Lyons signed for the Buddies last week on loan, but was given his marching orders in the first half of their Scottish Cup tie with Alloa.

St Mirren boss Oran Kearney, who was manager of Coleraine during Lyons' time with the club, defended the Rovers midfielder though, with his second yellow card coming for simulation.

After seeing his side come from 2-0 down to win 3-2, Kearney told his club's official website: “I would even question the first one. I thought it was a 50/50. I thought their centre half screamed, which drew the attention of the referee.

“I thought they both went in for the ball, and then when the yellow card is delivered he jumps up 10 seconds later.

“The second one I’ve watched back again and it was the same as when I saw it live.

“He (Lyons) is one-on-one with the centre half, I spoke to him before the game and said that if he gets in to those areas not to pass but to run at people, and he’s done that.

“He steps past the centre half and you see on the footage that the centre half there is contact made between the two bodies and I don’t know, I don’t get it.”

“Thankfully it hasn’t hurt us.”

Meanwhile, Sam Hart had a winning start with his new loan club Southend United.

Hart, who spent the first half of the season at Rochdale, was part of the Southend side who ran out 3-0 winners at Bradford.

“We put Sam in a different role (wing back) but he’s used to it,” Chris Powell told the Essex Echo.

“It’s always a bit harder for defenders coming in, especially coming to Bradford where they test you.

“They get the ball into the final third pretty quickly but he did particularly well and helped us to get a clean sheet which was another pleasing aspect of the day.”