Aching point

Glentoran 2-2 Cliftonville

Cliftonville emerged from The Oval with a point after being unable to hold on to a 2-0 lead against Glentoran this afternoon.

Tommy Lavery opened the scoring after a surging run from midfielder Harry Wilson before Joe Sheridan’s close-range conversion doubled the Reds’ advantage.

Though the expectation was that the visitors would have to weather something of a storm at the start of the second-half, the reality was that it simply never ceased, with the Glens laying siege to Cliftonville’s goal in wave after wave of attacks.

Heroics from PJ Morrison and some vital last-gasp defending preserved the Reds’ lead until David Fisher forced the ball home from a corner.

Glentoran utilised a similar route for James Singleton’s equaliser and, from then on, it was anyone’s game, with the hosts’ momentum making them favourites to claim all three points.

A tactical tweak allowed Cliftonville to garner a greater foothold in the centre of the park and, though they were unable to fashion any serious openings in their ambitions to win the contest, nor did they find themselves under the same levels of pressure as the clock ticked down towards a sharing of the spoils.