Rob Roy striking prospect Stevie Aitken began the day with his manager Stewart Maxwell urging him to bide his time for a regular starting jersey.

But he ended it with arguably the most stunning contribution ever made by a substitute coming off the bench.

David Fairclough of Liverpool fame and not forgetting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his Manchester United prime will forever be linked with a “supersub “tag.

But neither has ever come remotely close to achieving what 23-year-old Aitken managed coming onto Portland Park on Saturday with just 12 minutes left to play and the scoreline tied at 1-1 in ther New Coin Holdings West of Scotland Cup clash between Troon and Rob Roy.

The former Campsie Black Watch starlet’s first touch after pouncing on hesitancy by Troon defender Chris McKnight was to flick the ball over an opponent and his second was a sweetly hit volley that flew high beyond the grasping reach of goalkeeper Ally Semple.

Yet those backslaps and celebratory roars appeared tame to events straight from the kick-off as Rob Roy pressed forward again to cause a mishit pass that winger Chris Duff took in his stride before an astute pass across goal picked out Aitken who despatched a low shot into the corner of the net for 3-1.

Aitken’s telling work was not finished there because only minutes later his fresh legs were sent scampering down the right flank and he looked up before sending over a searching low drive that team-mate Willie Sawyers bundled home at the second time of asking to round of a remarkable 4-1 success for the Rabs.

Aitken said: “I’ve had to grin and bear playing second fiddle because of the form shown by Sawyers and Kevin Watt, so the gaffer Maxi had a little pep talk for me today in which he said I had to try and make an impact whenever the opportunity arose.

“My response was to promise to do my best but two goals plus an assist from a total of five touches is the stuff dreams are made of.”

Before Aitken’s intervention, this always absorbing cup encounter had looked odds-on to be settled by penalty kicks as two evenly-matched sides went hammer and tongs at each other and provided great entertainment for the watching crowd.

Troon led through a well-struck effort from top scorer Adam Forsyth when he was allowed to turn all too easily into space and fire home a swerving but the Rabs drew level in 31 minutes when terrific wing play by Chris Duff led to a cross that found Sawyers and his looping header found the net via the far upright for 1-1.

The scoring was over from that point until the memorable finale however there was no shortage of spills and thrills or indeed fierce exchanges as borne by the crime count of seven yellow cards dispensed by whistler Steven Reid.

Rabs boss Maxwell admitted: “I think we deserved to win over the piece, but things were certainly a lot closer than the scoreline indicates.

“Being able to bring on someone of young Steven’s goalscoring abilities made all the difference because we are a team that will always create opportunities and he fully deserves all the plaudits coming his way.

“He’s not been starting too many games, but his attitude has been nothing short of fantastic and I predict a big future for him in the game.”

Dejected Troon midfielder Colin Spence said: “Winning games at this level is all about being ruthless in both penalty boxes and we were not that today.”

In other New Coin Holdings affairs, 11-time cup winners Auchinleck Talbot had Martin McGoldriock, Bryan Young, Graham Wilson and Robert Love to thank for a 4-0 rout of Greenock while Hurlford hitman Stewart Kean and Kieran Nisbet were on target in a 3-1 defeat of Renfrew.

One-time Queen's Park signing Thomas Collins bagged a hat trick in Beith’s 5-2 triumph over Maybole, Darren Simpson and John Henderson counted in Bellshill’s 2-0 win against East Kilbride Thistle.

And the trio of Chris Reid, Nikky Prentice and Paul McBride were on the mark as Kilsyth Rangers withstood a second-half fightback by Lanark United to win 3-2 at Duncansfield.

In the league action Pollok leapfrogged over Rob Roy to go atop the Super Premier Division standings with an emphatic 5-1 defeat of city rivals Petershill.

The visitors made a dream start when John Sweeney’s driven corner kick found the net with the aid of a deflection off Peasy midfielder Kieron McAnespie and they doubled their advantage just short of the half hour mark when Davie Winters netted from close range.

Within a minute, Scott Davidson had reduced the Springburn club’s deficit with a 20 yard drive which appeared to catch Lok keeper Jordan Longmuir unsighted however any hopes of a revival were soon quashed when Sweeney made the scoreline read 3-1 with a stunning lobbed volley right on half time.

Winters went on to complete his hat trick with a couple of sublime opportunist goals in the second half to rack up a 5-1 scoreline that did not in any way flatter the southsiders.

Elsewhere, Largs Thistle similarly took advantage of their Super First Division clash being the only one to pass muster by overcoming Yoker Athletic 3-1 to open up a three point lead on the chasing pack.

The teams went in level at half time after Craig Little’s opener for the Ayrshiremen was cancelled out by a Darren Jones counter.

However, striker Sean Pierce netted the only goal of the second period for Brian Slavin’s side.

Eddie Ablohr and Scott Chesney goals helped Irvine Vics stay top of the Ayrshire District pile, but Wishaw missed the chance to take over leadership of the Central First Division after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Thorniewood United .

And matters might have been worse given their share of the spoils only came about through Dan Kindlan’s 76th minute leveller countering an earlier Chris Lennon score for United.

Wishaw’s slip was seized upon by Lesmahagow whose new manager Billy McDonald must have delighted in a 3-0 victory away to St Rochs, earned by a Jack Currie hat trick, that promoted the Gow to second top spot in the table.