HAMILTON captain Martin Canning has praised the impact of hit kid Eamonn Brophy after his goalscoring cameo appearance.

The 18-year-old striker came off the bench to slot home the final goal for Accies in a 4-1 rout of Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Communities League Cup.

Brought on for Jason Scotland in the closing stages at New Douglas Park, Brophy needed just five minutes to put the tie beyond doubt with a composed finish.

It was the starlet's first goal for Hamilton since returning from a loan spell with Queen's Park, where he scored seven goals in only nine appearances last season.

Brophy also scored on his Accies debut in April 2013 after coming on as a sub in a 5-0 league rout of local rivals Airdrie.

And his application was hailed by Canning, who also netted in Tuesday night's win which earned Alex Neil's team a third round derby at home to Motherwell.

The skipper said: "It's great for young Eamonn to come on and score.

"I can remember him doing that in the derby against Airdrie in his first game for the club.

"He does it time and time again for the Under-20s and any time he trains with the first team he looks sharp.

"Eamonn is a natural goalscorer. He wants to play on the shoulder of the last defender and get through to get a chance. So it's great to see him getting his goal."

Tuesday's win is the latest positive result in a promising start to the campaign for Neil's side.

After four games in the SPFL Premiership Accies sit second on nine points, just one behind leaders Inverness and three ahead of reigning champions Celtic.

Next up for them is the visit of bottom club Ross County, a game the Lanarkshire club will surely be favourites for.

But former Staggy Canning admits he and his team-mates cannot afford to get carried away with their early league position. Instead they are focusing on just getting results.

He said: "It's a cliche but there are no easy games. It doesn't matter if a team is sitting top or at the bottom.

"The league table doesn't mean much at this stage of the season.

"There will be very little between the two teams on Saturday.

"It will be all about how well we turn up for the game in terms of our desire to win, our hunger to go and work hard. If we do both of them then we'll be in with a shout."