Reds win a quarter-pounder!

Crusaders 1-2 Cliftonville

Cliftonville dug deep to see off Crusaders and taste North Belfast Derby joy in this afternoon’s Clearer Water Irish Cup quarter-final showdown at Seaview.

Ahead at the break through Ryan Curran’s inch perfect header, the Reds doubled their advantage early in the second-half when Alex Parsons showed neat feet before unleashing a confident strike past home keeper Jonny Tuffey.

The Crues hit back through Harry Franklin soon later and came close to levelling on more than one occasion – most notably when Daniel Larmour was denied by a magnificent save from Lewis Ridd – but the Cup holders stood tall in the face of at times constant pressure to book their place in the last-four.

Full report to follow…