Peter Thompson brought up his tally of goals this season to 18

Limavady had the better of the first half with Alan Mannus saving a Ryan Semple effort and a William Murphy tackle denying Mark Magennis.

The Blues improved markedly after the break and Thompson struck in the 52nd and 80th minutes.

Before Thompson's second goal, Mannus superbly saved a Liam Cooley header.

The lively Magennis caused the Linfield defence a lot of problems in the first half.

Magennis set up Semple's 27th minute chance which Mannus moved smartly to save.

Linfield didn't create a chance of note in the first half and David Jeffrey no doubt had some strong words for his players at the interval.

The Blues were a different side after the break with the introductions of Chris Kingsberry and Aidan O'Kane giving the Blues a better shape.

Thompson opened the scoring in the 52nd minute with a neat finish from close-range.

To their credit, Limavady kept battling and Davy Patton had a good chance to level in the 63rd minute but was denied by goalkeeper Mannus.

After Cooley's point-blank header was brilliantly saved by Mannus in the 79th minute, Linfield immediately broke downfield and Thompson ran 40 yards before hammering the ball home to make the game safe.