Tough two take

Larne 2-0 Cliftonville

Cliftonville paid the price for a lack of cutting edge in today’s Sports Direct Premiership meeting with Larne at Inver Park.

Goals in either half earned full points for the hosts, but the Reds will look back at a string of missed opportunities that might have yielded a different outcome.

The first came when Brian Healy got his angles wrong as he attempted to pick his spot from the edge of the area and, after Larne had edged in front when Sean Graham teed Matthew Lusty up to find the net, Cliftonville began the second-half by striking the crossbar through Liam McStravick.

Conor Pepper’s dangerous pass across the face of goal found no takers, Joe Toole placed an attempt wide and Ryan Curran drew a save from Rohan Ferguson as the Reds took control of proceedings after the break.

A couple of goalmouth scrambles saw attempts charged down and Josh Kelly saw a fierce strike blocked before some fine play from Joe Gormley saw him thread fellow substitute Adam Carroll in but, with the angle against him, he was unable to find the target.

The Reds were made to pay for their failure to level when Larne sealed the points in the closing minutes; the linesman ruling that Andy Ryan’s close-range attempt had sneaked over the line prior to PJ Morrison clawing the ball away.

Cliftonville: Morrison, Pepper, Addis (Jordan, 62 mins), Wilson (Anderson, 83 mins), Curran (Gormley, 75 mins), Glynn, A Kelly, Toole (McCay, 62 mins), McStravick, J Kelly, Healy (Carroll, 62 mins). Unused subs: Ridd, Tohill.