Buriram United coach Masatada Ishii made no effort to conceal his joy after the Thunder Castle booked their place in the League Cup semi-finals with a 3-0 rout of Bangkok United on Wednesday night.
Defending champions Buriram United had goals from Suphanat Mueanta in the 30th minute, Haris Vukic (50) and Goran Causic (77).
Ishii said after the match, "I am very happy that we have qualified for the next round of the tournament with such an impressive victory over a team who are ranked No.2 in Thai League 1.
"Throughout the match, we were more accurate than the Bangkok side which made the difference.
"Our target is to win this tournament again and we will keep on doing our best to achieve our goal," said Ishii.
Bangkok United coach Totchtawan Sripan admitted that Buriram were better than his team.
"We made some easy mistakes during the match but Buriram were much stronger than us. They deserved to win this match," added Totchtawan.
In the other quarter-finals, BG Pathum United trounced Chiangmai FC 3-0 through goals from Apisit Sorada (28), Irfan Fandi (37) and Ben Azubel (80).
Ratchaburi recovered from one goal down to edge Samut Songkhram 2-1.
PT Prachuap also marched into the semi-finals after a 2-0 victory over Lamphun Warriors on Wednesday night.
The draw for the semi-finals will take place on March 28 and the matches will be played on April 26.
Meanwhile, Thai League 1 side Nongbua Pitchaya have sacked their Brazilian coach Emerson Pereira after a string of poor results left them pinned to the foot of the table.
Emerson had taken over the northeastern club less than three months ago but Nongbua were only able to claim one point in five matches under the Brazilian.
The decision was taken after a mutual discussion between the board of governors of the club and the coach.
While the team look for a new full-time coach, its director Theeravekin Sihawong, who holds a pro-licence, will step in as the interim coach.