JAMIE McKim has hailed his side’s emphatic 6-1 win against Ardeer as their best performance of the season.

The gaffer had urged his side to find their killer instinct after last week’s narrow victory and they did just that as they eased to their biggest win this season.

Burgh were unlucky not to be four up inside the opening 10 minutes with Keiron Magennis running riot, but it only took them until the half-hour mark to opening the scoring with captain Scott Robson connecting sweetly on the volley to leave the keeper no chance. 

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Despite Burgh’s commanding start, Ardeer did find themselves back in it almost immediately after falling behind as they fumbled it in from a corner. The visitors were then gifted an opportunity to take the lead from the spot after keeper Cammy Sinclair was adjudged to have pushed in the box but the keeper made amends as he comfortably saved the penalty.

This lull only fired McKim’s side up and they soon restored their lead after a slick combination was finished off by Sam Esplin firing low beyond the keeper. 

Two turned to three moments later as Billy Davies took advantage of a spill from the Ardeer keeper before Paul McCallum made it four just after the break, drilling it high into an empty net. 

Esplin looked unplayable at times with his blistering pace causing the Thistle right-back problems all afternoon and the forward grabbed his second of the afternoon as he dinked it over the keeper. 

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Substitute Johnny Boyd opened his Burgh account five minutes from time as he finished from an impossible angle to finish off the rout. 

And a delighted McKim admitted he could not have been happier with his side’s ruthless display.

He said: “I have said before that when we click and find that finishing touch, we’ll really hammer someone and that’s what happened on Saturday. We were excellent. Our attacking game was absolutely brilliant. I believe we let Ardeer off lightly. No disrespect to them, but just the six was flattering.

“It was easily our best performance of the season so far. Some of the attacking play was unbelievable and Sam Esplin was unreal for us. That’s the best individual performance I’ve seen in my time at Burgh so far. He scored two and created three. He’s unplayable when he’s on his game. 

“I always say I fancy us against anyone and when we play our own game, I really expect us to win any match.”

Burgh’s reward for that performance is a tough trip to take on West Premiership league leaders Hurlford in the West of Scotland Cup.

And while McKim acknowledges that the Ford are clear favourites, he is still backing his side to give a good account of themselves.

He added: “We’ll show them the respect they deserve but we’re still going to try and imprint our style on it. 

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“I’m not putting too much pressure on the boys with the result. What I will be doing, though, is putting pressure on them to produce a good performance. I hate watching teams play against bigger sides and hiding.”

Winner of this month’s Burgh 1956 club was Keiron Magennis who received £100.