Two late free-kicks by Gareth McKeown sealed victory for Crusaders in the north Belfast derby at Seaview.

The Crues took the lead in the second minute when Mark Dickson nipped in to score but Mark Patterson fired the Reds level in the 14th minute.

Dickson netted a penalty after a push on David Rainey but the Reds got a spot-kick for hand-ball against Chris Murray and Patterson netted his second.

Cliftonville defender Ronan Scannell was sent-off for bringing down Dickson.

Referee David Malcolm felt Scannell was the last defender and issued the straight red six minutes from time.

From the resulting free-kick, McKeown's swerving shot was too good for keeper John Connolly and the Crusaders defender added an even better set-piece to complete the scoring.

Crues boss Stephen Baxter said: "Our second half performance was stunning.

"I thought Mark Dickson ran their defence ragged. It was tough but I was pleased with the players' attitude."

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