Cliftonville fell to their first home defeat of the season after being hit by a late Linfield sucker punch.
Largely dominant over the course of a confident display, the Reds were undone when visiting substitute Chris McKee seized on a defensive error to dispatch the only goal of the night.
Having earlier twice threatened through Ben Wilson, Cliftonville felt they should have been awarded a penalty when the striker – who had robbed goalkeeper Chris Johns of possession inside the box – sent in a cross that appeared to be blocked by the hand of defender Euan East.
Wilson threatened twice more before the break, with Ronan Doherty and Joe Gormley testing their luck from range before the latter headed wide from Shea Kearney’s 51st minute delivery.
Within 60 seconds, Johns made a point-blank save to deny Rory Hale, with East called upon to hook a Reece Jordan cross out from beneath his own crossbar in the exchanges which followed.
Gormley then saw an overhead kick fielded by Johns, who reserved his best save of the night for a rasping long-range drive from Hale.
On 66 minutes, Cliftonville came closer still to making the breakthrough when Wilson slammed against the base of the post before a timely intervention stopped Luke Turner from linking up with Ronan Hale inside the area.
Despite those high levels of pressure and from out of nothing, the ball was soon in the net at the other end. With Turner unable to get properly underneath an attempted headed clearance, possession landed at the feet of McKee, who lobbed David Odumosu from close range.
The Reds were unable to generate that same degree of intensity as they chased an equaliser but saw their luck out again when a goalmouth scramble ended with the ball bouncing off Johns and onto the foot of a defender who cleared the danger.
Cliftonville: Odumosu, Addis, Gallagher, Rory Hale (Mallon, 83 mins), Jordan, Doherty, Gormley (Ronan Hale, 76 mins), Casey, Turner, Kearney, Wilson. Unused subs: Gartside, Kenny, C Curran, Lowe, Ashford.