Saints march on

Cliftonville 1-5 The New Saints

Cliftonville fell to a heavy defeat in the first outing of their pre-season schedule as The New Saints stormed to am emphatic victory at Solitude.

Amid atrocious weather conditions, it was actually the Reds who took an early lead when Ronan Hale capitalised on a defensive error but, by half-time, the visitors had turned things around to lead 3-1; Ben Clark, Jordan Williams and Danny Davies on target.

Cliftonville – who gave first run-outs to summer recruits Luke Conlan, Michael Newberry and Shaun Leppard – fell further behind courtesy of an exquisite Ryan Brobbel free-kick before Davies’ second of the night wrapped things up for TNS.

Cliftonville: Odumosu (Breen), Conlan, Addis (McGuinness), Newberry, Kearney, Rory Hale (Wylie), Leppard, Gordon (Jordan), Doherty (Sheridan), Gormley (Corrigan), Ronan Hale (Berry). Unused subs: Donnelly, McCart.