Scottish League One REVIEW 1 Aug 2026: Hamilton hit five at Montrose as League One opens

Hamilton Academical gave Montrose a chastening start to the season, winning 5-0 away. Hamilton were gifted the opener on 14 minutes, an own goal from S. McGinty, and S. McKinstry made it two on 23. S. Bannigan scored on 68 minutes, S. Hendrie on 70 and McKinstry again on 79.

East Kilbride beat Queen of the South 5-1 at home. C. McGuffie scored from the spot on seven minutes and again on 24; J. Stott replied on 26, and that was as close as Queen of the South came. F. Gray scored on 45 minutes and again on 62, and D. O'Connor made it five on 75. A. Davis was booked on 25 minutes for Queen of the South, Stott himself on 37, C. Coughlin on 56, B. Johnstone on 69, Z. MacKenzie on 79 and L. Smith on 88, with A. Smith cautioned on 64 for East Kilbride.

Ross County won 1-0 at Peterhead. B. Graham settled it on 66 minutes, in a scratchy afternoon that had already produced bookings for County's R. Docherty on 11 minutes and L. Reid on 14, and Peterhead's D. Strachan on 25; Peterhead's J. Brown and County's Graham and L. Jamieson were all booked on 90. County's Premier Sports Cup group brought a 4-1 win at Annan Athletic, a 3-1 home win over Clyde, a 1-1 home draw with Dundee and a 3-0 win at Airdrieonians, Jamie Lindsay, Jack Turner and Lewis Jamieson scoring in that last one.

Cove Rangers and Airdrieonians drew 0-0. It stayed goalless through a steady stream of cards: Cove's A. Darge on 17 minutes, then D. Mebude on 54, K. Taylor on 85 and C. Ross on 89 for Airdrieonians, and Cove's M. Barry on 90. Alloa Athletic were held 0-0 at home by East Fife, a much quieter afternoon with only East Fife's B. Easton on 70 minutes and Alloa's L. Rankin on 74 booked. East Fife go into the campaign having held a Premiership side: they drew 1-1 away to St Johnstone on 25 July in their Premier Sports Cup group, and before that drew 1-1 at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, beat Morton 2-0 at home and won 3-1 at home to Linlithgow.