Penalty spat

Coleraine 2-0 Cliftonville

Cliftonville were undone by two Coleraine penalties in today’s Danske Bank Premiership encounter at The Showgrounds – the first of which was hotly disputed, while the second resulted in goalkeeper Aaron McCarey being shown a straight red card by referee Raymond Crangle.

Ben Doherty converted both spot kicks to hand the Bannsiders all three points, leaving the Reds to rue a failure to capitalise on their dominance at the start of the second-half.

There had been little to report until the hosts were awarded their first penalty of the day, with Cliftonville left furious by Crangle’s decision to penalise McCarey for not becoming intangible after Matthew Shevlin had dinked a close-range shot onto the crossbar; the striker’s forward momentum carrying him into the keeper. Nevertheless, the referee pointed to the spot and Doherty converted.

James McLaughlin almost doubled Coleraine’s advantage with an outrageous long-range blast that came back off the bar and, despite enjoying plenty of possession, the Reds lacked a killer instinct in the final third, where Daire O’Connor, Michael McCrudden and Ryan Curran all worked openings, while Rory Hale flashed a dangerous delivery across the face of goal.

Cliftonville started the second-half well and piled on the pressure with a series of corners. A surging run from Hale provided a pathway for the Reds to work the ball to O’Connor, but his attempt was charged down.

Daniel Kearns saw a dangerous cross cleared away as the visitors turned the screw but, from their first foray forward, Coleraine earned their second penalty when Shevlin seized upon Kris Lowe’s header back to McCarey, who fouled the striker in his attempt to clear the ball.

The keeper’s dismissal meant an introduction from the bench of Declan Dunne who, despite guessing the right way, was unable to keep Doherty’s kick out.

That would prove Dunne’s last real involvement in the game as, even a man light, the Reds continued to boss possession and went close to reducing the arrears with a Hale attempt which fizzed over before McCrudden drew Martin Gallagher into a save.

McLaughlin sent another attempt against the woodwork at the other end as the Bannsiders bade to turn their numerical advantage into more goals but, as the clock ran down, Cliftonville found themselves restricted to free-kicks from outside the box, with O’Connor seeing one strike blocked by the ball before a second whistled just off target.

Cliftonville: McCarey, Breen (Dunne, 60 mins), O’Reilly, O’Connor, R Curran, McCrudden, Donnelly, Hale, Lowe, Kearns (C Curran, 68 mins), Coffey (Foster, 68 mins). Unused subs: Harney, Bagnall, Casey, O’Brien.