21/04/2018  |  League Cup

Cumbernauld Colts   6  v  0  Vale of Leithen

COLTS kept alive their hopes of silverware by hitting Vale of Leithen for six to book their place in the last eight of the Lowland League Cup.

The comprehensive victory was the perfect response to Wednesday night's disappointing 3-2 defeat against the same opponent, which saw Colts crash out of the SFA Challenge Cup.

But there was no complacency this time around as goals from Paul Nash, Sean Brown, Craig Holmes, Michael Wallace and a Stephen O'Neill double secured a much needed victory.

Colts will now host Gala Fairydean in the quarter final this coming Friday, and nothing less than a repeat performance will satisfy Colts management duo James Orr and Craig McKinlay.

Colts started brightly and took a deserved lead in 7 minutes when a neat move resulted in Connor McKenzie playing a low cross in from the right and Nash tucked the ball past visiting keeper Ross Gilpin from close range.

Vale of Leithen responded well and almost equalised in 10 minutes when they forced a corner, but from Cameron Dawson's effort Brown was on hand to clear the ball off the Colts line.

And then in 18 minutes Brown almost proved just as effective at the other end of the park when he ran onto Jordan Marshall's superb long pass but the striker pulled his volley narrowly past the far post.

However Brown made amends in 31 minutes when he found himself running clear of the visitor's defence yet again, and this time he made no mistake placing the ball low past Gilpin from 15 yards.

And the hosts added a third in 37 minutes to take control of the tie when another slick move allowed Brown to hit the bye line and the strikers low cross broke to the inrushing Holmes who rifled the ball low past Gilpin.

Vale of Leithen started the second period with a bit more intent and threatened the Colts rear-guard on a couple of occasions but it was to no avail.

But it was Colts who came closest to adding to the scoring in 65 minutes when McKenzie found space on the edge of the box and thumped a shot towards goal which was parried by Gilpin, and Brown couldn't divert the rebound into the net.

However it wasn't long before Colts killed the contest when the returning O'Neill came off the bench after a long term injury, before grabbing the fourth in 74 minutes.

The winger raced clear of the Vale defence and his first effort was blocked by Gilpin, but O'Neill showed great composure to knock the rebound into the net with a well-placed header.

And then in 79 minutes the hard working Wallace capitalised on a defensive error and showed great feet to knock the ball low into the net past Gilpin from a tight angle.

Colts were now dominant and in 85 minutes O'Neill netted his second of the game after Ritchie Kirwan made a probing run down the right and crossed for O'Neill, who skilfully flicked the ball high past Gilpin from 12 yards.

Colts now meet Gala Fairydean Rovers in round two, to be played this Friday at Broadwood, KO 7.45pm.