Midway through the first half a three-goal burst in three minutes involving the Simpson brothers, Douglas and Joe, put Wildcats in a comfortable position.

The opening goal came in 18 minutes with a confident shot by Joe. Within a minute Douglas presented him with another opportunity which he joyfully accepted, and the provider turned scorer two minutes later after excellent combination work by Joe and Graham Moodie.

Wildcats defended well and keeper Kris Kane was invaluable.

Grange forced an error just before half-time and capitalised to go into the break trailing 3-1.

More of the same followed on the turnaround with the home side pressurising their opponents.

In 51 minutes Scott McCartney crashed home a volley after good lead-up play by Vishal Marwaha and Dougie Simpson. Grange fought back, and when the Wildcats' defence failed to deal effectively with an attack down the left it was 4-2.

On 58 minutes the three-goal margin was restored when Wildcats again broke at speed from a defensive corner, and Dougie Simpson finished off a clinical move. Two minutes later Grange won a penalty stroke after a melee in the goalmouth, which was efficiently converted.

Four minutes from time Moodie made an incisive break down the right and picked out Joe Simpson who made no mistake for his hat-trick.

WILDCATS crashed out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter final stage when they went down 4-3 on penalties after a 5-5 draw with Menzieshill.

Although the Auchenhowie side were never behind, they rarely played with the fire and precision of the previous day.

On the other hand Menzieshill fought doggedly and despite having a far smaller ratio of chances, managed to equalise the scores on four separate occasions.

Scott McCartney gave Wildcats the lead from a corner in 12 minutes, but a failed clearance from a Kris Kane save led to the equaliser within six minutes.

Dougie Simpson netted from a corner to restore the lead which lasted five minutes which was increased with another McCartney corner conversion.

However the Dundee side scrambled a goal five minutes before the interval, and finished the half on a high when a deflection from a fierce cross left Kane helpless.

Graham Moodie then scored a brilliant individual goal in 40 minutes but the lead lasted only six minutes when Menzieshill capitalised on an insecure defence.

McCartney restored the lead from a corner in 62 minutes, and Wildcats should have consolidated this shortly after but missed.

These lapses proved costly when Menzieshill again breached the Wildcats defence with three minutes left.

In the penalty decider Wildcats failed from their first attempt, but Kane saved Menzieshill's fifth giving them a chance of a sudden death shoot out. Unfortunately David Mitchell's attempt struck the post.