With a gritty and determined performance, Edinburgh recorded their first home win in five years over Heineken Cup quarter finalists Cardiff Blues in a productive evening in EH12.

Always in control, Edinburgh finally made the all important breakthrough in the second half when wing Simon Webster dotted down after accurately judging Phil Godman's enterprising grubber kick into the deadball area.

Cardiff showed their quality and, as a result, Edinburgh had to adopt a measured, sensible attacking strategy that resulted in drop goals from Chris Paterson and David Blair in the final 15 minutes.

Paterson handed Edinburgh an early lead over Cardiff at Murrayfield with the full-back nailing a penalty on the six minute mark and he also added a conversion to his tally for the night.

Paterson's next penalty attempt was from long range and even though he didn't strike it as cleanly as he would have liked the kick was only inches away; rattling the post.

Edinburgh's next scoring opportunity arrived courtesy of stand-off Phil Godman, but his drop goal was also narrowly wide of the target with the home side unable to translate possession into points.

Nevertheless, Edinburgh kept plugging away and produced a coming-of-age performance that suggests the final furlong of the season should be both interesting and entertaining.

Breathing down the neck of third-placed Ospreys, Edinburgh's next match is another home game at Murrayfield when current champions Leinster visit EH12 on Friday 17 April.

Edinburgh: Paterson; Turnbull, Cairns, De Luca, Webster, Godman (D. Blair), M. Blair (captain) (Laidlaw); Traynor (Kerr), Ford (Kelly), G. Cross (Traynor (Lawrie)), C. Hamilton, Macleod (Mustchin), Newlands, MacDonald, Hogg.

Replacements: Kelly, Kerr, Lawrie, Mustchin, Laidlaw, D. Blair, Meyer.

Attendance: 2, 540