Thistle let off the hook by wasteful visitors

Edinburgh City manager Gary Jardine said he was happy with his side's performance but not the end product, after their 1-1 draw with Lothian Thistle.

The young manager said: "Not finishing has cost us quite a few games this season, not many teams have played better than us over the 90 minutes but we need to score goals. I can't fault the lads on their effort or our play but the final third was our downfall. Our aim was to stretch the game and play wide, that worked for us and we created a few gaps but it came down to not taking our chances in the end.

"We need to work on our finishing. Over the pre-season we worked hard on our fitness, it's been difficult over the summer finding facilities but, over the winter, our training facilities will have goals and we will be working on our finishing.

"We gave the young lad Ryan Wilson a start today, he came up from the 19s this season and he looked great, he is a positive player and he caused problems today.

"We now need to start picking up points, although we are playing well we need points otherwise we will end up rooted and adrift from the top five, which is were we aim to be."

City started the brighter of the sides and applied pressure on the Lothian back four, who looked really shaky and were finding it difficult to defend.

City continued to press ahead and their best chance in the opening half hour fell to Ross Guthrie. Lothian failed to clear their lines and Ross Macnamara played in Guthrie and his powerful long-range effort was saved well by Kevin Swain.

It was only a matter of time until City broke the deadlock and before the interval, Ryan Wilson went on a terrific run down the wing before cutting inside and as Swain came to narrow the angle, Wilson placed the ball low into the corner of the net to give city the lead.

Lothian's only real chance of the half fell to Craig Stewart when he got on the end of a Jamie Butler cross, but somehow he missed from close range.

In the opening minutes of the second half Darren Moonie sprung the offside trap and went in on goal, his powerful shot tipped onto the woodwork by Swain before the danger was cleared.

Lothian had a chance to level when Mark Kelly played in Lloyd Digan, but somehow Digan miss-hit his shot and the keeper gathered.

Then on the hour mark Lothian equalised when Alan McDonaugh got on the end of a throw in. He had his back to goal and appeared to flick the ball over his head and into the danger area and somehow City couldn't clear it before it nestled in the top corner.

City continued to bombard the Lothian goal and had several chances, the best of them falling to Douglas Gair

With only minutes remaining, Gair broke away and went one-on-one with Swain but he smashed the ball straight at the keeper and the danger was cleared.

Lothian manager Fraser Ogilvie couldn't believe his escaped with a point.

He said: "We were absolutely battered by City, we should have been on the end of a heavy defeat, I need to give credit to my boys for their work rate, I thought our work rate was excellent. We were very slack and it took us a while to get into the game, if it wasn't for Swain pulling of some good saves and poor finishing from City it would have been all over by half time.

"I can handle us having a bad day, but I cant handle it when players expect to win games easily, we need to match other teams. City played well, they worked as a unit, but I am really disappointed by the way we have played and the way we came across today.

"We were all over the place at the back and we had to change it, we are trying to build a squad so we create a competition for places but we have a few players out injured which makes it difficult. We never turned up today even after we scored the goal we just didn't look interested and that's not acceptable. It feels like we have come three steps forward and taken five steps back today, however we are delighted to have managed to have taken a point."

Lothian: Swain, Wilkes, McAleavy, Butler, Stewart, Hume, McAleavy, Young, McDonaugh, Digan, McDiarmid. Subs: Wallace, Patterson, Walker, Kelly, Shanley.

Edinburgh: Stobie, Dingwall, Harrison, Macnamara, Bruce, McFarland, Guthrie, Gair, Howat, Wilson, Moonie. Subs: Bain, Cairnie, Black, Pool, Mackintosh.

Lothian Thistle 1

Edinburgh City 1