Getting over the Lin

Cliftonville Ladies 2-1 Linfield Women

Cliftonville Ladies dug deep to maintain their Sports Direct Women’s Premiership title challenge with a hard fought victory over Linfield Women at Solitude this evening.

The first of three post-split fixtures in an enthralling title race got off to an explosive start when Teegan Lynch hooked the Reds in front with just five minutes on the clock.

Rhianna Breen drew the visitors level just before the half-hour mark only for a long range strike from Marissa Callaghan to restore the Champions’ advantage.

With Callaghan sent off following an off-the-ball incident in the second-half, Cliftonville were forced to see out the contest a player light but stood up to everything the Blues threw at them to climb to the top of the table ahead of title rivals Glentoran fulfilling their game in hand on Sunday afternoon.