Abel Manomey scored his first goal for the Men’s first team on Monday as Stirling ran out 7-1 winners over Edinburgh Napier University.
The Queen’s Park Shield quarter-final tie was swiftly put to bed as the Lowland League side hit seven first-half goals without reply.
The visitors bagged a consolation goal in the second half as Stirling spurned chances to extend the lead, but had done more than enough to reach another semi-final.
Head coach Chris Geddes said: “To get into another semi-final of a cup competition is excellent. It was our second game in three days, so I’m delighted with the result and the goals we scored.
“We obviously had to make a lot of changes to the starting 11, but the boys that came in did well, and to score seven in the first half shows how good all of our forward players are.
“We had chances to add more goals in the second half, but I can’t complain with that scoreline, and our focus now turns to Clydebank on Saturday.”
First-half goal fest
It was a new look Uni side that faced Napier in Stirling, as nine changes were made to the starting lineup from Saturday’s 2-2 draw with East Kilbride.
Buronbek Mirzasalimov was the first to make an impact as he headed in the first of his hat-trick on four minutes from an Archie Munro cross.
Four minutes later Jamie Thompson scored his first goal of the season as the defender finished off a well-worked corner.
Napier’s chances of staying in the game were diminished after 11 minutes when the away goalkeeper saw red for handling the ball outside of his box.
The home lead was then doubled before the half-hour mark by Ciaran McAninch, as the midfielder snuck the ball in from a tight angle before tucking away a penalty.
Having set up McAninch’s first strike, Manomey volleyed in on his debut to put Stirling 5-0 up.
The first-half rout was complete when Mirzasalimov sealed his hat-trick with goals on 35 and 40 minutes.
Calum Rae picked out the forward excellently for the sixth, with number seven coming from a powerful left-footed finish into the far corner.
The Edinburgh side pulled one back after an hour as the ball was poked home following tricky wing play from Tommy Penker.
Stirling could’ve hit double figures with the chances created after the break, but the result ensured the Uni go unbeaten in February and will face Glasgow Uni in the last four.
University of Stirling: Godik, Lavery (Berry 66), Aslanoglu, Thompson, McAninch (Jarvis 76), Russell (Woloszyn 51), McGill, Munro, Rae, Mirzasalimov (Maciver-Redwood 66), Manomey (Heal 76)
Featured Image Credit: George Vekic
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