Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Cliftonville 1 Linfield 2
A GILT-EDGED miss by Aaron Donnelly in the dying seconds and a penalty claim that was turned down left Cliftonville fans fuming as Linfield edged this top-of-the-table clash at Solitude last night.
Mark Stafford’s 56th minute strike proved the winner for the hard-working Blues as they go top on goal difference, while the Reds struggled to hit the high notes of recent weeks.
Andrew Mitchell put the visitors ahead with a 14th minute penalty before Joe Gormley equalised 13 minutes later.
Cliftonville didn’t do enough in the second half to merit a point, but they were still left kicking themselves after Donnelly’s stoppage-time miss.
Ronan Doherty fired in a great cross but the unmarked Reds defender failed to make sufficient contact seven yards from goal.
Moments earlier, Linfield defender Matthew Clarke appeared to handle the ball in his own penalty area but Cliftonville’s furious appeals were waved away.
Linfield breathed a huge sigh of relief on both occasions but were full value for their win.
In the first half, experienced referee Ray Crangle assumed centre stage – and his interventions were absolutely correct in awarding the two first-half goals shared between the sides.
Although there were howls of protests when the Belfast whistler pointed to the spot for Linfield’s opener, TV replays of the award were irrefutable.
Stationed at the edge of the penalty area, Jimmy Callacher latched onto a loose ball and aimed a shot that was probably flying over Cliftonville’s crossbar by 10 metres, but it caught Liam Bagnall’s arm who was trying to close down the Linfield defender.
Bagnall’s arm was unnaturally high and the home support’s protests fell on deaf ears.
Crangle didn’t hesitate and Andrew Mitchell stroked the 14th minute penalty to the Cliftonville net, sending home side ‘keeper Richard Brush the wrong way.
Earlier, the two sides exchanged chances. Stephen Fallon went close with a curling effort from 25 yards and later Rory Donnelly saw his header breeze over Linfield’s crossbar.
But once Mitchell opened the scoring, this top-of-the-table clash started to open up.
Gormley escaped down Linfield’s left flank and put in a super back post cross that the out-stretched Ryan Curran couldn’t convert.
The Reds equaliser did come on 27 minutes despite the linesman flagging for off-side, but Crangle over-ruled his colleague. And he was correct to do so.
Conor McMenamin put Linfield full-back Ethan Boyle under pressure before the ball squirmed to the unmarked Gormley who clipped the ball beyond visiting ‘keeper Rohan Ferguson and into the Blues net.
The Linfield players fully expected Crangle to defer to the linesman’s flag and rule out the goal, but the ref was better placed to see that it wasn’t McMenamin’s through pass, rather Boyle’s back pass and therefore Gormley couldn’t be off-side.
The Blues emerged the brighter of the two sides in the second half and ‘Storm Brendan’ started to show its teeth too, which made conditions more difficult for a period.
Always dangerous from their well-rehearsed set-pieces, one of Linfield’s corners paid rich dividends on 56 minutes that saw them edge in front.
Boyle flicked on Mitchell’s corner and Mark Stafford – a half-time substitute for Mark Haughey – tapped into the empty net at the back post.
And the visitors should have gone further ahead when Reds defender Garry Breen lost his footing which allowed Shayne Lavery to race through on goal but Brush was equal to his flicked effort.
Without the injured and in-form Jamie Harney minding the Reds back-line, Paddy McLaughlin was forced into a defensive re-shuffle last night with Conor McDermott moving from right back to partner Breen in the centre and Seanan Foster occupying the full-back position.
As a consequence, the Reds missed McDermott’s attacking thrusts from the right flank as they failed to string any passes together in an untidy second half.
By the hour mark, the Reds boss was re-shuffling his midfield and attack in pursuit of a much-needed equaliser.
Chrissy Curran entered the fray for defensive midfielder Bagnall and Gormley, somewhat surprisingly, made way in attack for new signing Michael McCrudden on 66 minutes.
In the final throw of the dice lively winger Thomas Maguire was thrust into the fray with seven minutes of normal time remaining and McDermott moved back to his more familiar right back slot.
But the home side’s play was pockmarked by surrendering possession too easily on countless occasions as Callacher and Stafford didn’t have a lot of trouble handling Rory Donnelly, McMenamin and McCrudden while Jamie Mulgrew managed midfield in the second half exceptionally well.
And just when it seemed the Blues would ease over the finish line, they got away with Clarke's handball and Aaron Donnelly let them off the hook with seconds remaining.
Cliftonville: R Brush, S Foster (T Maguire 83), C McDermott, A Donnelly, G Breen, L Bagnall (C Curran 61), R Doherty, C McMenamin, R Donnelly, J Gormley (M McCrudden 66), R Curran Subs not used: D Dunne, L Ives, J Harney, R Wilson
Linfield: R Ferguson, M Haughey (M Stafford 46), J Callacher, J Cooper, J Stewart (K Millar 74), S Lavery, M Clarke, S Fallon, J Mulgrew, E Boyle, A Mitchell Subs not used: A Moore, A Waterworth, M Shevlin, D Kearns, B Henry
Referee: R Crangle (Belfast)
