DESPITE not turning up until the second half, St Mirren finally got their first goals and win of the season against a feisty Dunfermline side.

Either team could have won but substitute Ross Caldwell's first two goals for the club eased Tommy Craig's early season woes and sent Saints into the third round.

The home side's start was ponderous as Isaac Osbourne, making his debut, traded passes with his central defenders on a warm, sunlit evening.

But if Saints thought they could stroll through this tie, they were rudely disabused of the notion in eight minutes.

A free-kick midway into the St Mirren half was taken by Josh Falkingham and headed clear by Ellis Plummer but only to Lewis Spence, and the midfielder sent a well-judged shot just inside Marian Kello's post from just outside the box.

Saints also had captain Steven Thompson making his first start of the season after he returned from injury as a substitute on Saturday.

Despite this the Buddies continued to look subdued. At the other end Plummer needed a timely tackle to halt Chigozie Ugwu and Michael Moffat sent a decent shot just wide.

Midway through the half a Gregg Wylde cross from the left fell to Adam Drury, who took a couple of touches before firing in a shot which crashed back off the bar.

John McGinn finally showed some urgency with a driving run into the Dunfermline box and was only foiled by Lewis Martin's fine tackle. Wylde then forced a good save from Ryan Scully before Jeroen Tesselaar fired the loose ball wide.

Manager Craig took decisive action at the break, replacing Osbourne and Thompson with Caldwell and Callum Ball.

Within five minutes it was Caldwell who showed how to do it with a darting run into the Dunfermline box before he sent in a shot which deflected off central defender Gregor Buchanan and beat Scully.

The goal energised Saints but ignited the tie. Ball and Kenny McLean came closest to scoring with shots that Scully did well to save.

With 20 minutes left, the outstanding Falkingham beat Kello with a first-time dink that just went over the bar. The little midfielder then sent a shot just past the far post.

Dunfermline were giving as good as they got when Saints got the winner ten minutes from time. And again it was Caldwell to the rescue, this time with an assist from Ball, as the subs vindicated Craig's half-time switch.

Afterwards the Saints boss said: "I'm grateful for the win but no more than that. We were ordinary in the first half to say the least. Dunfermline deserved their lead.

"The second half was all about getting back into this cup tie. After Ross conjured up a goal out of nothing we began to control the game.

"It was really more down to endeavour that got us the result. Overall I must admit we were very ordinary tonight."

Dunfermline manager Jim Jefferies said: "I'm very proud. My players were terrific.

"There may be two divisions between the teams on paper but it did not look like that."