Paul McGowan scored a hat-trick to help St Mirren past Peterhead whilst Willie McStay suffered the anxiety of watching Ross County get knocked out of the Scottish Cup on penalties to Dundee United.
Loan Celt McGowan scored in the 22nd ,33rd and 46th minutes to book St Mirren a 5th round tie away to Ayr United who beat Hibs 1-0 at Somerset Park.
After being held to a goal-less draw at home in the first leg St Mirren made no mistake and were 4-0 up at half time, 6-0 up after 56 minutes on route to a 6-1 victory.
Further north at Dingwall it was despair for Ross County after matching cup holders Dundee United all the way.
The 0-0 draw at Tannadice was matched in the replay and extended into extra-time before United edged the tie 4-3 in the shoot out.
Earlier in the day Ki Sung Yeung and Cha DuRi were given time off for good behaviour as South Korea beat India 4-1 to book a quarter final place against Iran on Saturday.
One more goal would have put the Korean’s ahead of Australia on goal difference as group winners but coach Cho Kwang-rae isn’t over worried about facing Group D winners Iran for a semi-final place.
He explained: “When it comes to Iran, they are one of the powerhouses of Asian football so we’d likely have to beat them at some point to win the tournament.
“My concern was that I wouldn’t have the three players available for the game as they were on one yellow card.
“I intentionally left out Lee Jung-soo while Cha Du-ri and Ki Sung-yeung only played the first-half to prepare for the game against Iran. There are no weak teams in the quarter-finals so we have to prepare to have the team in the best condition.
“I am quite satisfied about the result of tonight’s match, we had chances to score many goals but I was happy with the players’ attitude towards the game, they took it seriously and did their best.
“We gave a penalty away in the first-half, which we could have avoided. Kwak (Tae-hwi) was not calm enough, so that could be better. All the players did a good job against an organised side, we created many chances, we are getting better and I have been satisfied throughout the tournament.
“If we can continue these performances, I believe the team will do an excellent job for the quarter-final match.”
Stokes delighted by Hooper’s return
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
