Two’s company

Cliftonville 2-2 Coleraine

Ronan Hale struck in injury-time to ensure Cliftonville emerged with something to show for their efforts in a fourth consecutive 2-2 draw with Coleraine.

Twice behind in a contest the Reds largely bossed, Hale levelled with a long-range drive in the closing seconds of the first-half before repeating the trick with the aid of a deflection late on, though there’s no question the hosts were left rueing their failure to collect all three points.

Having gone close on a number of occasions alongside a couple of decent penalty appeals, the concession of two avoidable goals twice left the team being forced to battle from behind.

The opener came after just three minutes when Odhran Casey was dispossessed on the right channel and, though Matthew Shevlin’s cutback failed to pick out anyone in the middle, Lyndon Kane lashed in a strike that appeared to catch goalkeeper Nathan Gartside by surprise on its way into the net.

In the immediate build-up to that goal, however, the Reds had appealed for a spot kick when Ryan Curran’s attempted pass appeared to strike Stephen O’Donnell’s arm inside the box and the hosts were frustrated again when a fierce Ronan Doherty blast arrowed across the face of goal and away from danger.

A well-worked free-kick saw the Hale brothers link up only for Ronan to find insufficient power in his shot after seizing on Rory’s pass and, just before the half-hour, Ronan Hale did well to get in behind the Coleraine defence only to find the side netting with his effort.

He made no such mistake on the stroke of half-time, though, when he picked his spot with a curler than whistled beyond the dive of goalkeeper Gareth Deane and ensured Cliftonville were level at the break.

The home side’s forward motion continued into the second-half and, from a Chris Curran cross, namesake Ryan could only glance a header wide before Ronan Hale shot straight at Deane after controlling Odhan Casey’s delivery.

Given the one-way nature of the contest, Solitude was stunned on the hour when the Bannsiders edged back in front with their first real attack of the second period; Jamie Glackin racing onto a loose ball and teeing up Andy Scott to make it 2-1.

It took some time for the Reds to re-establish any sort of rhythm and, having seen one cross punched away by Deane, substitute Jamie McDonagh sent in a low cross which Dean Jarvis seemed to block with his hand but, once again, referee Jamie Robinson wasn’t interested in any penalty appeals.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, Joe Gormley thundered a ball across the face of goal that David Parkhouse came within inches of connecting with but Cliftonville finally got their rewards on 92 minutes when a foul on Ronan Hale earned a free-kick outside the box and he picked himself up to execute a shot that clipped former Reds striker Michael McCrudden on its way past a wrong-footed Deane.

There was still time left for the Reds to snatch a winner but, try as they might, that one final chance simply wouldn’t come and an off target Parkhouse effort was as much as they were able to muster in the closing minutes.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Addis, Gallagher (Gormley, 64 mins), C Curran, Rory Hale, R Curran (Parkhouse, 75 mins), R Doherty, Casey, Turner (Traynor, 72 mins), Ronan Hale, Moore (McDonagh 64 mins). Unused subs: G Doherty, Rocks, Coates.