Bristol Churches League Division 1

Edge Church FC 0 Thornbury Baptist Church FC 6

THORNBURY Baptists eventually hit Edge for six at Little Stoke Park on Saturday, but they owed that to an exceptional first half performance up the hill and into the wind that saw them come into the break two-nil up.

Thornbury made the livelier start and Ash Tuck shot just wide in the third minute after a cross from James Hancox.

Tuck didn’t have long to wait for his second chance and this time he latched onto an ill-judged defensive pass, rounded the goalkeeper and finished coolly for a valuable lead after just five mins.

On 18 minutes, Tuck was set free again, this time the commanding Doug Nash finding the through-ball and Tuck squared the pass for James Ponting to apply the simple finish.

The two-nil lead was magnified by the slope and the wind, both of which turned in The Baps’ favour at half-time and they made it count with 4 well-worked goals.

First a James Hancox throw-in was headed on by Jimmy Cooke and Tuck pounced to fire inside the near post.

And Tuck had his deserved hat-trick when a slick move down the left flank saw him round the keeper again, and fire in from the tightest of angles.

So often the provider, it was finally James Hancox’s turn to bag the fifth.

Then he was back to his trademark crossing from which Tuck’s header was brilliantly saved and Cooke was there to tap home the simplest finish.