MOL to play for

DAC 2-1 Cliftonville

Cliftonville produced a courageous performance in this evening’s Europa Conference League clash with DAC, going down 2-1 in the opening leg of the first qualifying round tie at MOL Arena.

Rego Szantho gave the home side a first-half lead but Ronan Hale plundered a debut goal to draw the Reds level almost instantly before Nikola Krstovic’s emphatic strike settled the game.

Hale was one of three players making their first appearances for the Club, with goalkeeper Fynn Talley and winger Stephen Mallon also handed places in the starting XI.

DAC enjoyed long swathes of early possession but were unable to muster anything on target aside from a Szantho free-kick which Talley touched over.

Dominik Kruzliak flashed a header wide before the deadlock was broken on 25 minutes when Szantho worked some space for himself inside the area and dispatched a left-footed strike into the far corner.

The stadium announcer’s lengthy goal celebration update had barely subsided by the time Cliftonville equalised.

Mallon set off on a mazy run that took him diagonally across the pitch and he slipped the ball to Jamie McDonagh, whose cross took a nick off a defender and fell for Hale, whose improvised finish was the cue for the decibels in a noisy away end to rise even further.

Things might have been even better for the Red Army, and indeed Hale himself, when the former Larne man charged forward and unleashed a bullet of a shot which flashed over the top.

The Reds continued to work hard after the interval and kept sturdy defensive discipline as DAC attempted in vain to negotiate an avenue to goal. As it turned out, the direct route proved the most rewarding and Krstovic made no mistake with a firm blast from the edge of the area to restore his team’s advantage.

Ahead on the scoreboard, DAC soon found themselves trailing numerically when substitute Brahim Moumou was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Chris Curran but, despite enjoying greater possession in the home half, Cliftonville were unable to make their extra man count; Ronan Hale twice calling goalkeeper Daniel Veszelinov into action before Levi Ives had two shots charged down.

Cliftonville: Talley, Ives, Addis, Gallagher, R Curran (Gormley, 85 mins), McDonagh (C Curran, 70 mins), Lowe, Doherty, Turner, Ronan Hale, Mallon (Rory Hale, 70 mins). Unused subs: McKenna, O’Neill, Robinson, Storey, Casey, Coates.