Wood as gold

Carrick Rangers 1-3 Cliftonville

Eric McWoods scored the pick of the goals as Cliftonville hit Carrick Rangers with a late double to seal a comeback victory at Taylors Avenue this evening.

Trailing to a Danny Gibson strike with just four minutes on the clock, the Reds went close to levelling through Micheal Glynn before Luke Conlan scrambled in from an Arran Pettifer corner delivery just before the half-hour.

Alex Parsons went close to putting the visitors in front and Pettifer saw a volley come back off the crossbar before Cliftonville’s momentum was stalled by the half-time whistle.

The break afforded Carrick an opportunity to regroup and they re-emerged with greater purpose at the start of the second period, although it was the Reds who went closest to bagging the next goal when Glynn saw an attempt deflected onto the bar.

The Gers forced a series of corners in the closing stages and it was from one such set piece that Cliftonville broke away to take the lead; Rory Hale supplying fellow substitute McWoods with the pass from which he set off towards goal, steering his way past two defenders before keeping his cool to produce a composed finish.

It got better still for Cliftonville because, just four minutes later, the win was secured when Coran Madden teed Hale up for a strike which was blocked only for the ball to fall for Joe Gormley, who made no mistake with a well-taken strike to ensure the Reds began their post-split schedule with a vital away day success.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Stewart, Addis, Pettifer (Hale, 70 mins), Kearney, Curran (Gormley, 78 mins), Conlan (McGuinness, 46 mins), Glynn, Keaney, Parsons (Madden, 70 mins), Corrigan (McWoods, 78 mins). Unused sub: Ridd.