Ry glances

Crusaders 2-2 Cliftonville

Two Ryan Curran goals saw Cliftonville land a battling draw in a fiery North Belfast Derby at Seaview this evening – but the Reds will be wondering how they didn’t emerge with all three points to their name.

Having clipped the post through Ronan Hale amid a bright start to proceedings, the visitors fell behind when a controversially-awarded free-kick saw Jordan Forsythe find the top corner from distance.

Curran levelled matters when he scrambled home on 35 minutes before a goal-line clearance from Billy Joe Burns prevented Ronan Doherty from putting Cliftonville in front before the break.

Josh Robinson’s foul on Rory Hale earned a 71st minute penalty which Curran stepped up to convert but the Reds’ lead was wiped out when Ross Clarke struck to set up a granstand final 10 minutes which saw the away side do most of the pressing ahead of Joe Gormley going close to what would have been a deserved winner in the closing seconds of injury-time.

Despite the impressive display, Cliftonville almost fell behind early on when Paul Heatley played Dean Ebbe through on goal but Nathan Gartside stretched out a leg to avert the danger and, just a few minutes later, a slick passing move ended with Ronan Hale striking the outside of the post with an outside-of-the-boot effort.

Philip Lowry headed wide and Gartside got down to deal with a Jude Winchester shot before the deadlock was broken when Daniel Larmour took a tumble under the close attentions of Chris Gallagher and Forsythe stepped up to thunder a fierce strike into the back of the net.

Ebbe could only scale the bar with a chance that might have taken the game away from the Reds but, following a nervy few minutes in the aftermath of that goal, Cliftonville began to find their groove again and equalised when Odhran Casey’s ball down the line was turned into the box by Kris Lowe and, though Luke Turner’s effort was blocked, Curran was on hand to convert – albeit there were a nervy couple of seconds before referee Christopher Morrison confirmed the ball had crossed the line.

Winchester made a mess of a header that should have restored Crusaders’ advantage but it was the away side who were almost celebrating again when Ronan Hale teed up Doherty, whose strike got the better of goalkeeper Jonny Tuffey only for Billy Joe Burns to block at the last.

The fluid nature of the contest started to break down after the interval with a series of fouls leading to rising temperatures on the pitch, where Cliftonville were rewarded for a sustained period of pressure when ref Morrison pointed to the spot after Rory Hale had been sent sprawling inside the box by Josh Robinson and Curran stepped up to make it 2-1 with the penalty.

The Crues levelled with 10 minutes to play, however, when Clarke found the bottom corner from distance ahead of the night’s biggest flashpoint coming when Forsythe hit out at David Parkhouse, who was then needlessly dragged off the ground by Chris Hegarty, with yellow cards for all three proving a less than satisfactory outcome for a noisy Red Army.

Having refused to sit back and settle for a draw, Cliftonville were almost rewarded for their late positivity when, two minutes into injury-time, Ronan Hale’s ball across the face of goal picked out Gormley, whose first-time attempt whistled the wrong side of the post for what would prove the game’s final goal chance.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Gallagher (McDonagh, 86 mins), Rory Hale, R Curran (Parkhouse, 78 mins), Lowe, R Doherty, Casey, Turner, Ronan Hale, Coates, Moore (Gormley, 86 mins). Unused subs: G Doherty, Addis, C Curran, Rocks.