Irvine Meadow co-manager Colin Spence has praised returning striker Graham Boyd after he scored in the 4-0 win over Saltcoats Victoria at the weekend.

The Medda front man made his long awaited return from injury a fortnight ago off the bench in the 1-1 draw with Blantyre Victoria in the West of Scotland Football League Premier Division.

However, he was in from the start for Medda’s trip to Campbell Park in the WoSFL cup first round.

The away side took the lead midway through the first half, Sam McCloy finishing off a cross from near range on the slide.

Only 10 minutes later Meadow had their second, Jackson Sivewright slotting in a loose ball on the half volley.

An own goal before the break saw the away side go into the interval 3-0 up in Saltcoats.

In the second half, Boyd stepped up to complete the scoring, with a bullet header from a corner sealing Meadow’s place in the second round.

Speaking to the Times, Spence said: “Boyd got 90 minutes under his belt, which was his first full game in about three years.

“It is a massive milestone for him personally to get the minutes and it will do him the world of good.

“It will give him a real confidence boost that he managed to get through the game with no issues and grabbed a goal.

“If he keeps going on the way he is at the moment, he will have a big say on the rest of the season that is for sure.”

Boyd was amongst a number of changes to the starting XI at the weekend as Meadow rang the changes for the cup tie.

Spence says he was pleased with how the players that came in played and reminded him of their abilities.

He said: “The players that came in a lot of them have not had a lot of game time.

“But they came in and reminded us why they are at the club and that they can do a job for us.

“So that was definitely a positive.

“We also managed to give debuts to two development squad players as well, who played the last thirty minutes and did their chances no harm at all”.