Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits Alex Lowry's missed penalty was the turning point as his side ended up easing past Rangers B in the SPFL Trust Trophy tonight.
John Rankin's men progressed to round four courtesy of a Dario Zanatta double - his first goals for the club - and a Reegan Mimnaugh penalty, all of which came after Uddingston man Alex Lowry missed a penalty for the Gers midway through the first half.
Accies will now host Inverness Caledonian Thistle on the weekend of December 10 for a place in the quarter-finals.
Rangers first team star Lowry had the chance to put his side in front after 20 minutes when Robbie Ure was fouled in the box, but his effort came back off the post.
The visitors - who made nine changes from Saturday's defeat at Raith Rovers and fielded 16-year-old Lewis Latona in the heart of midfield - broke the deadlock after 32 minutes when Zanatta opened his Accies account, firing past Lewis Budinauckas inside the box.
Six minutes into the second half they doubled their lead when Mimnaugh was brought down in the box and he dusted himself down to fire his spot kick into the bottom left corner.
Zanatta made sure of Hamilton's progress in the 73rd minute with another good finish inside the box to send Accies into Friday's night's Championship clash with Ayr United on a high.
Accies boss John Rankin was full of praise for his young side as he admitted they got a lift from Lowry's miss.
He said: "The penalty could have changed the game and swung it in a different direction but, fortunately for us, they missed it and we were quite convincing after that.
"It's almost as if players got belief with the penalty being missed but Jamie Smith kept his first clean sheet this season, so that's important for him and the defence as well.
"We've been letting a lot of goals in so that will be big for their confidence.
"You could see at the end of the game, there was a determination not to concede, even with the younger players on the pitch.
"I'm delighted for Dario getting his first goals for the club and Reegan as well. Hopefully this kicks us on and gives us the belief we need."
Rankin added: "We are into the next round of the cup and that's all that matters, so I'm happy with that.
"There was nine changes from Saturday to freshen things up, for a number of different reasons. We had different knocks and different injuries but we got there.
"Wee Lewis Latona started the game at 16 years old so that is great for him and great for the academy that we can get somebody like that on the pitch, and make the impact he did as well.
"If you look at the rest of them, near the end of the game we get Liam Morgan, Ben Black and Cian Newbury on the pitch which is great as well.
"We had some experienced players in there to help them through but it's another great thing to see for our academy."
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