Jimmy Thelin believes Aberdeen FC have finally secured a surprise revenge against Darvel after East Kilbride defeat

Jimmy Thelin believes Aberdeen’s quality shone through as the Dons got a little revenge on EK boss Mick Kennedy 18 months after their disaster at Darvel.

Brilliant individual goals from Jamie McGrath, Leighton Clarkson and Shayden Morris’ first goal in red, plus Nicky Devlin’s opener, ensured that there was no drama this time around, with Thelin’s men remaining in contention to win Group A. Kennedy – who was reprimanded before the game by the Red Army for leading his former team to one of the greatest Scottish Cup shocks of all time – was in upbeat mood before kick-off and said he was confident of causing a second upset.

But despite the wet conditions, lightning never struck twice as Aberdeen did a professional job to take the lead ahead of Airdrie’s visit to Pittodrie on Tuesday. And Thelin said: “It was a professional performance. It wasn’t easy at the start, East Kilbride had a chance early on and we had a few problems with our man marking but we found solutions.

“Four different goalscorers, Ross Doohan, a great goal scorer and a clean sheet, that made it a good day. We had some really good individual quality for the goals, Jamie with the lob and Clarky with his free-kick. It was good to see. We’re going to have our ups and downs as we develop as a team but we’ve got to keep pushing and moving forward.”

Bojan Miovski has started and finished on the bench as speculation continues to mount over the forward’s future – but Thelin insists the £6.5million-rated forward – wanted by Bologna among other European sides – is ready to play his part with two games in the coming week.

He said: “Bojan was back on the bench but it was good to have Ester Sokler on the bench from the start and then we gave Peter Ambrose the chance to show what he can do. But Bojan is ready to play, we take it game by game with him.”

“Shayden has played very well since the friendlies and now also in the cup games. He is always a threat to the opponent with his speed and he also played well on the left side today.