AUCHINLECK Talbot manager Tommy Sloan hailed the impact of his substitutes after his side progressed into the first round of the Scottish Cup.
The Beechwood Park outfit won their first match in the competition, a second preliminary round fixture, 4-1 away to Haddington Athletic on Saturday, August 31.
It proved to be a challenging fixture for Talbot, who went in level at half-time after Kyle McAvoy's earlier opener was cancelled out by Luke Kennedy.
But a second half hat-trick from Connor Boyd, which went unanswered, saw the East Ayrshire club progress in comfortable fashion come the full-time whistle.
“It’s great to be through," Sloan commented. "The first half I wasn’t too happy, I don’t think we performed very well.
“We got ourselves in front and they came back, and deservedly so. We got in at half-time, tinkered with the shape a wee bit, and we were much better.
“We had far more cutting edge about us and won well in the end.”
Talbot are, of course, no strangers to progressing deep into the competition, having made the fifth round as recently as 2019 and defeating some established SPFL clubs en route.
Though with experience of such runs now lacking in Sloan's squad, he is now looking elsewhere to provide inspiration this time around.
And he was more than happy with where that came from on Saturday.
He added: “A bit of experience helps which I don’t think we have in abundance with the new squad we’ve got.
“The pleasing thing that was that we’ve finished the game really well, and the substitutes made a real impact in the game.
“We didn’t get weaker, we got stronger, and that’s always a good sign.”
The performance of players who came of the bench has added to the selection headache Sloan already had - with the Talbot boss yet to firm up his strongest starting 11.
Though it is a problem he says he is happy to have, as it shows the quality of squad the club have now assembled.
He continued: “The squad are doing fine, we need to take confidence from the wins and move on to the next game and kick on.
“We are still searching for the strongest side and players coming off the bench and doing well is making that difficult, it’s a good sign.”
After their win on Saturday, Talbot also learned their first round opponents which will take place on the last weekend of this month.
Auchinleck will face a trip to play former SPFL side Albion Rovers, who now compete in the Lowland League under the stewardship of former Heart of Midlothian, Hamilton and St Johnstone boss Sandy Clark.
Sloan commented: “We’ll be looking to win the game but they’ll be a good side. They’ve got a good, experienced manager in Sandy Clark.
“They’ll be looking to get back into the SPFL, they’ll have good players, we’re away from home – it’s certainly a tough draw but it’s one we are looking forward to.
“In the meantime, hopefully I can do my homework and get a look at them. I’m not wanting to read too much into it yet.”
Before they return to Scottish Cup action, there is another cup contests for Talbot on Saturday, September 7.
Auchinleck will host Lossiemouth United in the Scottish Junior Cup this weekend, with the match kicking off at 2.30pm.
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