Raine of error

Coleraine 4-1 Cliftonville

Cliftonville’s defensive woes continued as Coleraine were handed four goals on a plate during this afternoon’s Danske Bank Premiership encounter at The Showgrounds.

Trailing when Eoin Bradley found the net in the aftermath of an error in the visiting rearguard on 20 minutes, the Reds were 2-0 down less than 60 seconds later after an horrific re-start opened a path for Stephen Lowry to convert.

Cliftonville – who had twice threatened through the dangerous Ryan Curran in the first-half – were much improved after the break and deservedly reduced the arrears when Liam Bagnall showed neat feet inside the area to register his first ever goal for the Club.

Within six minutes, however, any hopes of a comeback were snuffed out when the Reds’ failure to clear a corner saw Aaron Canning put Coleraine 3-1 in front ahead of James McLaughlin rolling into an empty net following another mix-up at the back in the closing minutes.

Cliftonville: Brush, McGovern, Ives, Harney, C Curran, R Curran, R Donnelly, Bagnall, Catney, Gormley, McNulty. Subs: McKenna, Breen, McConnell, Lavery (Ives, 79 mins), Maguire, McMenamin (C Curran, 79 mins), A Donnelly.