North stars soar

Cliftonville 3-1 Crusaders

Cliftonville roared to North Belfast Derby victory in a blood and thunder encounter with Crusaders at Solitude this afternoon.

After taking the lead through Jonny Addis’ header, the Reds were handed a numerical advantage when visiting midfielder Declan Caddell was sent off for a nasty challenge on Cricky Gallagher.

Despite being a man light, the Crues levelled courtesy of Josh Robinson just before the break but still found themselves trailing at the interval when quick thinking from Levi Ives saw him play Ryan Curran in behind a static defence and the striker made no mistake with a cool finish.

A rasping right-footed drive from Levi Ives with 12 minutes left on the clock made sure of things for Cliftonville, who also had a late Joe Gormley effort ruled out for offside.

With Jamie McDonagh having threatened twice during the opening exchanges, the Reds were rewarded for their bright start when the swinger dinked in a corner for Addis to power home with 13 minutes on the clock.

Jordan Forsythe scaled the crossbar by way of a Crusaders response but their prospects of a route back into the contest were dented when Caddell saw red for a dangerous tackle on Gallagher before using his elbow to connect with Conor McDermott during the unsightly melee which followed.

Three minutes later, the visitors were fortunate not to find themselves down to nine men when Paul Heatley jabbed at Gallagher off the ball, with referee Tony Clarke flashing a yellow card in the forward’s direction for confronting the Cliftonville man as he lay on the ground.

From the resulting free-kick delivery, Addis drew a fine save from Jonny Tuffey but it was from a set piece of their own that the Crues levelled.

Heatley hit the deck a little too easily under pressure from Luke Turner and Jarlath O’Rourke swung over a cross which Robinson was on hand to convert at the far post before needlessly charging into goalkeeper Luke McNicholas as he set off in celebration.

Despite the half-time whistle being imminent, Cliftonville still found time to restore their advantage when Ives’ quick throw-in caught Robinson napping and Curran raced through to stroke the ball beyond Tuffey.

Gallagher went close to making it 3-1 after the break only to be denied by the keeper, who later demonstrated some acrobatics to keep Daniel Kearns off the scoresheet.

As the Reds’ pressure built, a wonderful pass from Ives was miscontrolled by McDonagh in the middle but it wouldn’t be long before the security goal arrived; McDonagh doing well to jink past O’Rourke and pass to Ronan Doherty, who teed Ives up for an emphatic finish.

Chris Curran sent a strike over the top as the hosts chased a fourth and Gormley was frustrated by the offside flag as Cliftonville recorded a long overdue home win against their derby rivals.

Cliftonville: McNicholas, Ives, Hale (C Curran, 73 mins), R Curran, McDonagh (Gormley, 84 mins), Lowe, Addis, Doherty, Turner, C Gallagher, Kearns. Unused subs: McKenna, McDermott, O’Neill, Donnelly, Coates.