NIFL Premiership

Linfield 2–0 Cliftonville 

A second-half brace from Shane Lavery was the difference at Windsor Park on Saturday afternoon as Linfield returned to winning ways and halted Cliftonville’s six-game unbeaten run with a 2-0 win. 

Linfield were on top but it took until the 75th minute for Lavery to eventually beat Aaron McCarey in the Reds’ goal. 

The visitors spurned a gilt-edged opportunity to level before Lavery tucked away his second in injury-time to seal a second successive 2-0 home win over Cliftonville this season. 

Reds’ boss Paddy McLaughlin didn’t feel that Linfield put his defence under any sustained pressure, but was left disappointed in his players’ inability to cause problems at the other end of the field. 

“When you come to Windsor Park you’re always going to be under some kind of pressure at some stage,” reflected McLaughlin. 

“McCarey has had a couple of saves but I don’t remember any sustained attack. They got their chances spread out over the second-half but I don’t think there was any sustained bit of pressure, which you expect off Linfield. But again, we didn’t have any sustained attack on their goal and that’s what disappointed us. We should have been more threatening in the top end of the pitch. 

“When we went 1-0 down, young Paul O’Neill has had a chance and he unselfishly tried to pass it but you’d rather he take the chance on himself and miss it rather than try and pass. He’s been unselfish and tried to set-up somebody but that’s part of the learning curve. 

“You’ve got to be ruthless and be more clinical when they (chances) come because when you come to Windsor Park you know they’re not going to come around too often. We’ll learn from it and move onto next week.” 

McLaughlin made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Ballymena on Tuesday evening. Both came in midfield with Ronan Doherty and Rory Hale replacing Daniel Kearns and Barry Coffey, both of whom dropped to the bench. 

It took a while for either side to threaten: within the first 10 minutes Jordan Stewart floated a high cross which Aaron McCarey came and collected and at the other end Paul O’Neill combined with striker partner Ryan Curran who tried to return the ball to O’Neill but was snuffed out by Ryan Newberry. 

Midway through the first-half, Aaron Donnelly slipped the ball to O’Neill whose shot was too high to trouble Chris Johns, while Joel Cooper fired a shot low towards the near post and McCarey got down to deal with the danger. 

Linfield attempted to turn the screw with Shane Lavery drawing the first save of note, but McCarey repelled his stinging shot. 

On the half-hour mark, McCarey made a magnificent save to deny a certain Mark Stafford goal after the centre-back threw himself at a free-kick from Niall Quinn. 

Cooper lashed wide of the target and a minute later slipped in Jordan Stewart whose goal-bound shot was blocked by Garry Breen. In the aftermath, Blues’ captain Jamie Mulgrew saw his shot from the outside of the boot whistle inches past the post. 

A minute before the break, Liam Bagnall was penalised for grappling with Joel Cooper but the hosts failed to make the most of the resulting set-piece. Navid Nasseri squared the ball to Stephen Fallon who blazed his effort over the bar and the sides headed in with the game goalless at the interval. 

Cliftonville's Rory Hale challenges Jamie Mulgrew
2Gallery

Cliftonville's Rory Hale challenges Jamie Mulgrew

Linfield started the brighter in the second period and just before the hour mark an acrobatic stop from McCarey denied Joel Cooper after some nice work by Jordan Stewart. 

A misplaced cross-field pass from Chris Curran was seized upon by Cooper whose low strike was blocked the foot of the Reds’ shot stopper. 

Moments later, Rory Hale lost possession and Navid Nasseri slipped in Shane Lavery who shot straight at McCarey and could only win a corner. 

With a quarter of an hour remaining, the hosts’ pressure eventually told as Cameron Palmer and Joel Cooper combined to deliver a pinpoint cross that Lavery headed home to make it 1-0. 

Cliftonville tried to force the equaliser, though substitute Barry Coffey’s free-kick fell at the edge of the area and Chris Curran left it to Daire O’Connor who failed to keep his effort down. 

A fabulous chance was then spurned with three minutes to go as Paul O’Neill squared the ball to Coffey for a tap-in but a tremendous blocked tackle from Mark Stafford denied the midfielder. 

Linfield sealed all three points in injury-time as Kirk Millar seized upon a poor pass from Ryan O’Reilly and crossed for Lavery who tucked away the opportunity to claim his brace and make it 2-0 at the final whistle. 

LINFIELD: Johns, Stafford, Newberry, Callacher, Stewart (Waterworth 69’), Lavery, Nasseri (Millar 69), Fallon (Palmer 57), Mulgrew, Quinn, Cooper. 

CLIFTONVILLE: McCarey, Lowe, Breen (Harney 76), O’Reilly, Donnelly, C Curran, Bagnall, Doherty (O’Connor 61), Hale (Coffey 72), R Curran, O’Neill. 

REFEREE: Tim Marshall