Alloa 0 St Johnstone 4: Jephcott impressive as Saints bounce back in Viaplay Cup group with comfortable win

New arrival Luke Jephcott impressed on debut as St Johnstone bounced back in Viaplay Cup Group A with a comfortable win at Alloa.

Cammy Ballantyne had opened the scoring within a minute following a very clever move before Ryan McGowan doubled the advantage later in the half.

Adding a third after the break and opening his account for the season was Stevie May then, late in the day, youngster Ben McCrystal rounded off the scoring with a determined finish.

Jephcott, whose signing was confirmed on Friday, needed only seconds to show off how valuable an asset he could prove to be moving forward.

Strong hold-up play and neat link-up with strike partner May set the ball rolling on a promising attack. He then clipped a delicious pass for the well-timed run of Ballantyne.

Ballantyne, not all that far inside the box and from a tight angle, sent a beautiful lob over the head of goalkeeper PJ Morrison. Fifty-seven seconds were on the clock.

One went to two in the 20th minute when McGowan found himself in acres of space 25 yards from goal. He went for glory and rightly so. A low drive into the bottom corner.

Goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, handed his club debut, had little to be overly concerned about in the early exchanges although did need to make a comfortable save from Bradley Rodden.

He also earned a ripple of applause from the Perth support for a commanding and comfortable catch from a long delivery into the box.

Despite Alloa seeing plenty of the ball, May had a couple of chances to extend the lead further before Graham Carey’s powerful free-kick was saved smartly by Morrison.

There had been little to get excited about early in the second half but another neat move involving Jephcott and Ballantyne saw the latter slip in