NIFL Premiership

Carrick Rangers 0–1 Cliftonville 

A first-half goal from Ryan Curran ensured that Cliftonville made it three wins in succession for the first time this season after a hard fought 1-0 win over Carrick Rangers at the Belfast Loughshore Hotel Arena on Saturday afternoon. 

Curran edged the Reds ahead against the run of play just after the half hour mark. In the second period, the hosts were reduced to 10 men as Kurtis Forsythe was given his marching orders for hacking down Paul O’Neill with a red card issued to the members of both management teams for a coming together in the immediate aftermath of the tackle. 

Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin was pleased with the result and felt the conditions contributed to the close nature of the game. 

“It was a good result from a scrappy game,” reflected McLaughlin. 

“It’s a tough place to come and the pitch was dry and sticky so it was never going to be a game that we got it down and played nice football. We knew we had to battle and we did. 

“Carrick were well organised and set up to make it hard for any team coming down here. Fair play to the boys, I thought we were excellent and kept a clean sheet.” 

McLaughlin named an unchanged starting 11 from the side that beat Ballymena on Tuesday evening, although Jamie Harney returned to the bench after serving a three-game ban. 

It took a while for the game to spring into action, but Carrick were forced into an early change as captain Mark Surgenor departed after 11 minutes through injury to be replaced by on-loan Glentoran midfielder Steven Gordon. 

Cliftonville almost created the first opening with Rory Hale feeding Paul O’Neill down the left channel and O’Neill’s cross evaded Ryan Curran in the area. That led to an immediate counter-attack by Carrick and Lloyd Anderson picked out Jordan Jenkins in the area. Jenkins chested it down but Kris Lowe diverted his effort behind for a corner. 

The resulting set-piece from Kyle Cherry caused havoc in the Cliftonville area and the ball dropped to Anderson whose low effort came off and post and was quickly hammered to safety. 

Midway through the half, Garry Breen felt he was fouled by Jenkins but referee Evan Boyce disagreed and Jenkins had a glorious opportunity with Aaron McCarey advancing. The striker lobbed it towards the empty goal but it was just too high to find the net. 

The deadlock was broken just after the half-hour mark: Aaron Donnelly picked out Kris Lowe on the edge of the area and Lowe’s attempt to shift the ball to Ryan Curran saw the ball deflect into the path of the striker who shot low past Hogg to score his ninth of the season and give his side the lead at the interval. 

Cliftonville started the second period in the ascendancy, but fluffed three early chances to extend their lead. 

Chris Curran picked out Barry Coffey who skied his effort, Rory Hale then dragged a low effort wide after good work from Paul O’Neill on the left and Hale tried to make amends by floating a dangerous cross to Ryan Curran at the back post but Steven Gordon was there to clear at the expense of a corner which came to nothing. 

At the other end, Lee Chapman saw his cross easily collected by McCarey. The hosts’ best chance came on 57 minutes as Lee Chapman lost his footing and the ball fell to Reece Glendinning 35 yards from goal and he let fly with a fierce drive that thundered off the underside of the crossbar and away from danger. 

On 63 minutes, a challenge from Kurtis Forsythe on Paul O’Neill saw a coming together between both benches and after referee Boyce consulted fourth official Glenn Buchanan, he issued a red card to Forsythe and dismissed Carrick coach Andy Hunter and Cliftonville assistant manager Brian Donaghy for their part in the earlier argument surrounding the challenge. 

It was Cliftonville who forced the next chance of note with little under a quarter of an hour remaining. Substitutes Michael McCrudden and Daire O’Connor combined, but the latter hit a weak attempt that Hogg easily gathered. 

A few minutes later, McCrudden saw his shot charged down by Reece Glendinning and after the ball was recycled, Ryan Curran had the chance to double his tally but for a superb invention from Steven Gordon to divert the ball behind for a corner. 

Cliftonville saw out the remaining minutes and took register a third successive win which saw them leapfrog North Belfast rivals Crusaders into fourth in the table. 

CARRICK RANGERS: Hogg, Forsythe, Neale, Surgenor (Gordon 11), Loughran, Chapman, Cherry (Storey 78), Glendinning, Gibson, Anderson, Jenkins (Millar 82). 

CLIFTONVILLE: McCarey, Lowe, Breen, O’Reilly, Donnelly, C Curran, Bagnall, Coffey, Hale (O’Connor 58), R Curran, O’Neill (McCrudden 71). 

REFEREE: Evan Boyce