Rain and ruin

Cliftonville 0-2 Larne

Cliftonville fell to a lacklustre defeat against Larne at a rain-lashed Solitude this evening.

Trailing to Lee Bonis’ first-half opener, the Reds shipped a Joe Thomson strike just before the hour that all but ended the game as the visitors comfortably saw things out to claim all three points.

The first scoring threat of the match came from Rory Hale, whose long-range strike drew a save from Rohan Ferguson, before Larne broke the deadlock when Shaun Want’s long ball forward was seized upon by Bonis, who nipped past Odhran Casey and stroked in.

Ronan Doherty then headed off the line as the away side came close to doubling their advantage from a corner, while Nathan Gartside got down to block when Aaron Donnelly’s low drive came through a crowded goalmouth.

Cliftonville began the second-half with greater purpose and appealed to referee Lee Tavinder to take action when Ferguson was accused of lifting the ball outside the box when under pressure from Ronan Hale, but the officials were content that the away stopper had not committed any infringement.

Five minutes later, the ball was in the net at the other end when Andy Ryan got the better of Casey down the right flank and cut back for Thomson to confidently pick his spot.

Despite creating a number of scoring opportunities, Cliftonville never really looked like fashioning an avenue back into the contest, with Ferguson saving from Joe Gormley and Ronan Hale before Rory Hale saw an injury-time blast deflected wide.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Addis, C Curran (Gormley, 61 mins), Rory Hale, R Curran (Parkhouse, 78 mins), McDonagh, R Doherty, Casey, Turner, Ronan Hale, Moore (Traynor, 61 mins). Unused subs: G Doherty, Robinson, Rocks, Coates.