IRISH PREMIERSHIP
Cliftonville 5
Crusaders 2
At Solitude
CLIFTONVILLE claimed the North Belfast bragging rights and closed the gap on Carrick Rangers to two-points in the race for sixth spot with a 5-2 win over Crusaders at Solitude on Saturday afternoon.
A lightning start saw Brian Healy make the breakthrough and Luke Conlon glance home a second inside of eight minutes, but Adam Brooks cut the deficit with a headed goal before the break.
The Reds would restore their two-goal advantage early in the second period through Micheál Glynn though Scott Rough’s header before the hour mark left the derby very much in the balance until the final quarter when Harry Wilson curled home and Josh Kelly’s added time header wrapped up the derby win for Jim Magilton’s charges.
Magilton was pleased with aspects of the game and especially with the performances of late scorers Harry Wilson and Josh Kelly.
“It was important we got off to a good start, which we did” Magilton reflected .
“I thought we started the game really well. It always helps when you go 2-0 up, it relaxes people, relaxes players but then we concede a silly goal, You;re going in at half time and again reaffirming the positives and how we started the game.
“Again, we started the game wonderful, fantastic goal from Micheál Glynn and they go up the other end and we concede a set piece. Then we settled down in the game again and Harry Wilson produces a moment of sheer brilliance- fantastic goal, and again another fantastic performance from him.
“We rounded it off with a great ball from Rory and a wonderful finish from Josh Kelly, who, again, I thought, was outstanding today”.
Magilton made two changes from the XI that began Tuesday evening's postponed encounter with Portadown,
Injury ruled out Calum McCay and Keevan Hawthorne was dropped to the bench as Micheál Glynn and Joe Sheridan returned to the starting line up.
Cliftonville made the perfect start within four minutes, Rory Hale lofted a quick free kick forward and Scott Rough slipped at the edge of the box allowing the ball to run through for Brian Healy to thump past Musa Dibaga and make it 1-0.
Harry Wilson celebrates scoring 
The Reds doubled their advantage in the eighth minute. Micheál Glynn’s corner from the right was glanced in at the near post by Luke Conlon in his first official appearance since suffering a groin injury against Coleraine in the second game of the season.
It was all Cliftonville in the opening quarter of an hour and they almost found a third when Hale laid the ball off to Glynn from a quickly taken free kick but his attempt whistled past the post.
Crusaders first sprang to life with a Finley Thorndike free-kick that cannoned into the Cliftonville wall and sixty seconds later former Reds winger Thomas Maguire fizzed in a low cross that talisman Fraser Bryden fired wide.
An Eliot Dunlop snapshot was pushed down and gathered by Lewis Ridd and Bryden headed over from Thorndike’s corner a few minutes after Harry Wilson had driven an angled attempt high off target.
In a frantic ending to the 45, Crusaders halved the deficit. Jordan Forsythe clipped in a cross that Fraser Bryden nodded on with a further flick on from the head of Adam Brooks, guiding the ball low into the corner past Ridd to make it 2-1.
There were late chances for Cliftonville to restore their two-goal advantage before the half concluded.
Brian Healy lobbed the ball over Musa Dibaga and Scott Rough cleared off the line, Healy then hooked a shot goal-bound that was deflected behind for a corner. Deep into added time, Adam Carroll’s shot from the edge of the box was turned behind by Dibaga, as it remained 2-1 at the break .
Cliftonville started the second period like the first and soon regained their two-goal lead. Micheál Glynn held the ball up before laying off to Conlon, the defender's threaded pass found Rory Hale and he in turn found Glynn to steer a low effort past Dibaga and into the net to make it 3-1.
Crusaders keeper Dibaga made a fine stop after Glynn’s corner dropped to Rory Hale at the back post and it was a chance Cliftonville would rue missing as the visitors again halved the deficit.
Finley Thorndike’s corner from the left was pinpoint and Scott Rough rose highest to power his header firmly past Ridd; game on again.
The game was firmly in the balance until the 78th minute when Cliftonville doubled their lead for the third time.
Substitute Ryan Curran played a one-two with Luke Conlon before finding Harry Wilson, Wilson drove towards the edge of the area then offloaded a fine curling shot low into the bottom right hand corner to make it 4-2.
Crusaders misery was complete five minutes into added time when Rory Hale’s whipped free kick was glanced home by on-loan Glentoran midfielder Josh Kelly to give his side a 5-2 win. The derby victory means the Reds remain within two-points of Carrick Rangers in their push for a top-half finish come the split.
CLIFTONVILLE: Ridd, J Kelly, Leppard, Conlon (A Kelly 82’), Toole, Wilson, Hale, Sheridan (McStravick 63’), Glynn (Hawthorne 82’), Carroll (Curran 71’), Healy (Gormley 71’).
CRUSADERS: Dibaga, Brooks (O McCart 85’) , Thorndike (Nixon 69’), Dunlop (K Forsythe 69’) , Easton (Bruce 69’), Forsythe, Williamson, Bryden, Maguire (McKechnie 69’), Rough, Anderson.
REFEREE: Jamie Robinson
