Card luck tale

Linfield 1-0 Cliftonville

Ten-man Cliftonville slipped to defeat against Linfield at Windsor Park this afternoon after passing up a series of opportunities to rescue a Danske Bank Premiership point.

Having carved out the best opening of the first-half when Ruaidhri Donnelly forced a save from Rohan Ferguson, the Reds saw their numbers reduced when Liam Bagnall picked up a second yellow card 12 minutes after the turnaround.

The Blues didn’t take long to make their extra man count when Chris Casement bundled in what proved to be the winner just six minutes later.

Donnelly came close to levelling when a fine solo run ended with him rocking the crossbar before good work from Joe Gormley saw Chris Curran take too heavy a touch as he attempted to steal in on goal.

Linfield, who had been fortunate not to have Shayne Lavery dismissed prior to his substitution, were also reduced to 10 men for the closing stages when Kirk Millar received a straight red card for a horrible challenge on Aaron Donnelly, but Cliftonville’s last real chance to level came and went when Gormley nodded over the top from close range.

Cliftonville: Brush, McDermott, Harney, C Curran, R Curran, R Donnelly, Foster, Bagnall, Doherty, Gormley, A Donnelly. Subs: D Breen, G Breen, Wilson, Maguire (R Curran, 87 mins), McMenamin (Foster, 71 mins), Gorman, McCurry (Doherty, 90 mins).