East Kilbride caretaker boss David Proctor hailed his talented youth players after they starred in a 5-0 win over Camelon Juniors.
Kilby progressed to the semi-finals of the South Challenge Cup thanks to a Ruari Paton hat-trick, plus strikes from skipper Craig Malcolm and 18-year-old debutant Dom McLaughlin.
It was McLaughlin who stole the show with a man of the match display at centre-back and there was also praise for young goalkeeper Lewis Sanderson, who also made his first team debut.
Proctor said: “Dom is only 18, but he capped off a great performance at centre-half with a goal and Lewis played beyond his years.
“They’ve stepped up to the mark in the reserves and earned their chance in the first team and that bodes well for the future. To win 5-0 in a quarter-final is a good performance. The teams are all strong at this stage of the competition.
“Camelon have been going well in their league and came here fancying their chances of an upset, so we had to be on top of our game.”
EK now face Spartans tonight in the league and travel to Haddington on Football Nation Cup duty on Saturday.
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