First-half Thistle blast leaves Pentland with uphill struggle

Edinburgh Thistle banished the memory of their opening day defeat to Edinburgh Ansar by blitzing Pentland Thistle by four first-half goals to one in the Edinburgh and District Sunday Amateur Pentland Roadhouse First Division.

Pentland prop up the table after playing two games but showed enough pride and promise in the second half to suggest that they will not be among those fighting to avoid relegation, a fate suffered last season by their opponents on Sunday, who will now aim to battle back to the Premier Division.

Edinburgh Thistle certainly wasted no time in displaying their ambition, with two goals in the opening 20 minutes to wound an ailing Pentland before applying a sprinkling of salt in the form of a brace of strikes in a four-minute spell prior to half-time to pull further ahead by the break.

Lee Marshall played a quickfire one-two to free up space on the right and drove into the box before firing past Paddy McDermid, then Ross Haldane's strike from inside the box made it two.

Edinburgh Thistle ruthlessly capitalised on Pentland's struggle to get into the game by adding further punishment via a pair of strikes in quick succession, the first - and their third of the game - arriving on 37 minutes.

Michael Henderson patiently awaited an opening as he ran across the face of the penalty area from the left and, upon seeing a gap in the Pentland backline, he fired the ball low into the right-hand corner of the net.

Henderson was at the centre of another opportunity created a couple of minutes later, playing the middle man in a clever one-two with Marshall to allow the Edinburgh Thistle No.?11 to break into the box from the right wing but goalkeeper McDermid had little trouble in taming the subsequent weak shot.

On 41 minutes, though, a simple goal from impressive skipper Paul Pearson, who rallied his team-mates brilliantly throughout from his position as the spearhead of his side's attack, put Edinburgh Thistle further ahead.

His strike from the edge of the area epitomised both the visitors' predatory instinct and the reluctance of the Pentland defence to close down their opponents, two traits that suggested the half-time margin of four goals between the teams was fully justified.

Pentland emerged in the second period, however, as the dominant team, while Edinburgh Thistle appeared unable to muster any enthusiasm for adding to their lead.

The hosts finally showed their worth in attack, creating a chance soon after the interval that saw Dean Irons go close with a strike from a left-wing cross.

On the hour-mark, Darren Lester conjured the goal of the game to salvage a modicum of hope from Pentland's four-goal wreckage, finding space in the tightest of situations on the edge of the area and sweetly curling his 20-yard strike into the top right-hand corner. Ben Sanderson might have reduced the deficit to two just five minutes later but, after Lester's threaded pass through, the striker sidefooted the ball straight at goalkeeper Patrick Croke.

Both sides then had goalbound strikes cleared off the line, and not even the spectacular acrobatics of Edinburgh Thistle's Fraser Macintosh, whose overhead kick from a corner flew narrowly over, could produce a further goal. Winning manager Keith Hogg was happy with the scoreline and hopes some new faces can help his side push for promotion this year.

He said: "In the first half, the workrate was there, and I'm happy with the result. We've got quite a small squad with just 16 players but we're hoping to add to that and reach a play-off place. We need two or three new boys to make a challenge at the top of the table."

• EDINBURGH THISTLE are currently recruiting players in all positions. Training takes place every Thursday at Craigmount High School from 8-10pm. Any interested players should contact Keith Hogg on 0131 539 0392.

Pentland Thistle: Patrick McDermid, Craig Martin, Grant McDermid, Mark Chapman, Sean McLemon, Ewen Brown, Darren Lester, Mark Hermiston, Scott Melvin, Ben Sanderson, Alex Fowler, Dean Irons, Gareth Howe, Jason Bryant, Alasdair Fraser, John Stephens.

Edinburgh Thistle: Patrick Croke, Gary Hogg, William McCarey, Fraser Macintosh, Robert Bruce, Darren Manson, David Stewart, Michael Henderson, Kevin MacLeod, Paul Pearson, Lee Marshall, Mark Allan, Ross Haldane, Andrew Robinson, Stephen Taylor.