GALA gaffer Dean Shanks admits his team could have been rewarded with an easier William Hill Scottish Cup third round draw.

But he also believes the away day to East Kilbride at the end of next month is winnable.

Shanks, who missed his team's impressive 2-0 victory over East Stirlingshire on Saturday because of a wedding, has guided his team to five wins from their last six starts.

And he feels that if they can continue progressing, his players will be a match for high-flying Kilby.

Shanks told us: "Our aim at the start of the season was to reach the third round of the Scottish Cup and we've done that - anything from now is a bonus.

"I would have loved another home draw and I'm sure there were a few groans when we got drawn out to play East Kilbride, but we have a chance of reaching the fourth round against a team from the same league as us.

"We know they have a lot of quality and are very hard to beat on their own ground, but we are starting to show what a good team we are and I feel we are a match for anyone in our league. We have the players who can beat East Kilbride."

Although Gala missed out on a lucrative third round clash with teams like Ayr United, Morton and Queen of the South, a place in the fourth round could bring even greater rewards as the Premiership sides are also in the hat.

It is hoped that both Kieran Ainslie and Phil Addison will have recovered from injuries to be included in the third-round squad that heads for South Lanarkshire on November 24.

But Shanks is more concerned with the league campaign that will fill up his next three Saturdays.

He added: "We're on a decent run just now and we want to keep improving.

"We have some difficult games coming up, especially this weekend's trip to Kelty Hearts, and we'll concentrate on them before we start preparing for the Scottish Cup game."