St Mirren became the first name to make the Scottish Cup fourth round after an emphatic 7-1 win over Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale.
The Buddies scored all seven goals in a blistering first half with Gavin Reilly netting four to safely secure Saints passage into Monday's draw.
It was the East of Scotland hosts who had the first chance when Grant Munro scooped the ball over the bar in the first minute from a corner.
But St Mirren took an early lead with just four minutes played when Stelios found Lewis Morgan in space inside the area with the winger crashing the ball into the far corner of the net to open the floodgates.
It was 2-0 just five minutes later when Jack Baird's hopeful flick into the box found the returning Harry Davis who composed himself before sliding the ball across the face of goal to Reilly who scored his first of the afternoon.
The Buddies further extended their lead less than ten minutes later when Baird headed home from a corner kick to make it 3-0.
Three soon became four when Cammy Smith scored his seventh goal of the season. The forward seized upon a poor clearance from Lothian 'keeper Kevin Swain before lifting it over the helpless stopper from 25 yards.
St Mirren were in the mood and made it 5-0 eight minutes later as Reilly notched his second of the afternoon when he calmly stroked the ball beyond Swain. And five minutes later, the striker would earn the match ball as he completed his hat-trick.
Reilly almost had a fourth on 41 minutes as he broke clear on goal, only to be denied by a decent save from the goalkeeper. But it was only delaying the inevitable as he found himself with a similar chances 60 seconds later. This time there was to be no denying the 24 year-old as he tucked the ball home for his fourth of the afternoon, St Mirren's seventh and his 15th of the season heading into half-time.
The visitors pulled a goal back two minutes after the interval when Sean Wringe, who had scored a brace in the previous round, blasted beyond Craig Samson from the edge of the box.
St Mirren manager Jack Ross made three changes in the second half to try and spark Saints back into life with Dale Hilson, Ross Stewart and John Sutton all coming on. All three had opportunities to get themselves on the scoresheet with Hilson hitting the side netting twice, Stewart having an effort deflected behind for a corner and Sutton cracking the outside of the post in stoppage time.
In the end, the seven half goals were more than enough for Saints who made it through to the next round with ease.
Full Time: Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 1-7 St Mirren
St Mirren: Samson, MacPherson, Baird, Davis, Stelios, McGinn, McShane (Hilson 57), Magennis, Smith, Morgan (Sutton 71), Reilly (Stewart 67)
Subs Not Used: Stewart, Buchanan, Kirkpatrick, Duffy
Lothian Thistle: Swain, Sherlock, Munro, Crawford, Moore (Hare 57), Muir, Brown, O'Donnell (Hutchison 70), Swanson (Nhamburo 73), Wringe, Devlin
Subs Not Used: Robertson, Mungall, Simpson, Shala
Referee: David Lowe
Assistant Referee: Graham Chambers
Assistant Referee: Blair Fraser
Attendance: 1,132
Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography
