Stenhousemuir 1-4 Partick Thistle

Partick Thistle edged a step closer to the last-16 of the Betfred League Cup with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Stenhousemuir.Mathias Pogba opened the scoring for the visitors, heading in from close range before Sean Welsh doubled their lead from the penalty spot.Stenny gave themselves a fighting chance when Liam McCroary blasted home from the edge of the box to halve the deficit.But David Amoo and Ade Azeeez fired in late strikes to preserve the Premiership side's 100 per cent record and go top of Group E.It was a match which Thistle dominated and, but for a tiny scare towards the end when McCroary reduced their lead to just one goal, they were well worth their victory.The Jags started brightly with Pogba opening the scoring after turning in Callum Booth's delivery with an angled header into the top corner (20).Thistle doubled their lead and looked comfortable when Welsh scored from the penalty spot after Amoo was upended by Ross Meechan two minutes later.The visitors were utterly rampant and should have added further goals to their tally in the first half but for some wayward finishing they would have.At the other end, Jags goalkeeper David Crawford had had little to do, but had to look lively to tip over McCroary's goal-bound header on 35 minutes before normal service resumed with Pogba and Lawless peppering the Stenny goal.Kevin Nesbit replaced Lawless on the hour mark and almost made an immediate impact for Thistle but he saw his low effort come off the post following a nice interchange with Pogba.Thistle's profligacy in front of goal almost cost them when McCroary unleashed a terrific drive from the edge of the box to halve the deficit for Stenny (73).But Amoo made sure of the win firing in from close range and Azeez added a touch of gloss to the scoreline, both inside the last five minutes.