Albion Rovers and Hamilton served up a thriller of a Lanarkshire derby at Cliftonhill, sharing eight goals and a remarkable disdain for anything approaching an attempt at defending as the home side earned a bonus point by triumphing on penalties.

An Alan Trouten hat-trick for Rovers looked to have been in vein as a Massimo Donati goal, a Shaun Want double and a Rakish Bingham penalty gave the Premiership side a lead that they held until deep into stoppage time.

That’s when Ross Davidson popped up to take advantage of – you guessed it – slack defending from Accies to lob debutant keeper Ryan Fulton to take it to penalties, where goalkeeper Graham Bowman saved from Donati and Greg Docherty, to rather fittingly allow hero of the hour Trouten to step up and claim the bonus point win by four goals to two.

“It was a fitting end to an unbelievable cup tie,” said beaming Rovers boss Brian Kerr.

“Trouts has been great for us since I came in, but there wasn’t a failure for us out there tonight. I’m just glad for the boys that they gave everything and proved that they could compete at this level against a Premiership side.”

One man who wasn’t beaming was visiting manager Martin Canning, who left the nine players he drafted into his side in no doubt about what he thought of their performance.

“It was disappointing and to come here tonight and lose four goals isn’t good enough,” Canning said.

“I’ve given boys a chance here tonight, but from what I seen, it doesn’t look as if any of them will be forcing their way into my first team.

“We should have had enough to come here and get the result, but if you defend like that, you’re not going to win games.”

The result leaves the Accies qualification hopes in the balance with one point separating the top four teams in the group, making his decision to shuffle his pack to such an extent with one eye on the opening league fixture at Aberdeen a week on Sunday look like a rash one.

Former East Kilbride forward Joao Vitoria wriggled free on the right to get the ball rolling, getting a shot away that Want managed to block, but it fell perfectly for Trouten in front of goal with time to hammer beyond Fulton.

Accies had enough possession, but they were struggling to really penetrate the well-organised Rovers backline until Donati produced a cracker of a finish not long before the break.

A Steven Boyd corner missed everyone to land at the feet of the Italian loitering at the back post, and he smashed a stunner of a half-volley into the net via the crossbar.

Another set-piece brought further joy for Accies in the dying embers of the half, as Danny Redmond curled a free-kick onto the head of Want, who glanced beyond Bowman.

There was an entertaining interlude just after the break which the Accies fans could file under ‘things you don’t see at top-flight grounds’, as the ball-boy at the main stand side was unable to retrieve the ball for a throw-in as he hadn’t finished his half-time crisps and Irn-Bru.

Unfortunately for the travelling band of supporters, a sight they are all too familiar with soon reared its head as their backline was all over the place to allow Rovers to level.

Davidson picked the ball up on the right and was given the freedom of the area to hit the by-line and pick out Trouten to tap home his second from close range.

Luckily for Accies, the home defence had its own glaring Achilles heel, and Accies exploited their inability to defend set-pieces to move back in front.

A corner by David Templeton again found Donati, and this time his volley back across goal found Want lurking to help the ball home.

Amazingly, Rovers were soon level as Trouten notched his hat-trick, finishing superbly with the outside of his right-foot from inside the area.

Templeton then thumped an overhead kick off the bar at the other end, before substitute Rakish Bingham was brought down by Alan Reid and picked himself up to slot home.

That looked to be that, but in-keeping with the spirit of the night, Accies contrived to make a right hash of seeing the game out as they gifted Rovers an equaliser with seconds remaining.

Donati was casual with his clearance, allowing Davidson to charge it down and leave Fulton helpless with a clever lob.

Then the stage was left for Bowman to perform the supporting role to Trouten, who calmly slotted home the decisive spot-kick in the shoot-out.