Francis Murphy levelled for Cliftonville at Seaview

Cliftonville fought back from a goal down to beat Crusaders in the Carling Premiership north Belfast derby.

Reds keeper John Connolly made a series of good first-half saves while Colin Coates cleared off the Crues line.

A Connolly mistake allowed David Rainey to put Crusaders ahead on 54 but Francis Murphy levelled on 61.

After Chris Scannell missed a penalty, Liam Boyce and George McMullan netted for the Reds before Ross Arthur's 87th-minute reply for the home side.

Crusaders had the better of the initial exchanges with Chris Morrow testing Connolly with a early long-range effort.

Alan Black then sped past Cliftonville defender Liam Fleming but the Crusaders player's shot was pushed wide by Connolly.

The Cliftonville keeper came to his side's rescue again minutes later when he saved a Gareth McKeown free-kick.

Crusaders goalkeeper Chris Keenan made an even better save at the other end in the 18th minute as he tipped a fierce Murphy free-kick over the crossbar.

As Cliftonville continued to improve, Coates had to clear off the line in the 37th minute after Boyce's header had looked set to break the deadlock.

First-half hero Connolly was left red-faced 9 minutes into the second half when Rainey opened the scoring after the keeper's attempted clearance had struck the Crues striker.

Rainey pounced on the error by controlling the ball and rounding the keeper before stroking into an empty net.

The Reds were on terms within seven minutes as Murphy ended some pinball in the Crues penalty area by lashing home a shot from 12 yards.

Cliftonville wasted a glorious chance to take the lead two minutes later with Scannell's penalty hitting the crossbar after Eamon Doherty was adjudged to have fouled Kieran O'Connor.

However, the Reds were taking control and Boyce struck the visitors ahead on 71 minutes as he connected with an Aaron Smyth free-kick.

The points were in the bag for the Reds nine minutes later as McMullan lashed in a shot past Keenan.

Arthurs replied three minutes from time but the Reds held on to claim a precious victory.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version