Linfield 4-2 Cliftonville

Andy Waterworth scored a hat-trick as Linfield beat Cliftonville 4-2 to return to the top of the Danske Bank Premiership.

In a dominant start, Linfield opened the scoring in the 17th minute when centre-back Jimmy Callacher was unmarked to make a near post run and thump home a header from Kirk Millar's corner.

The Reds were lucky not to be 2-0 down on 30 minutes when Waterworth missed with a free header from 6 yards. However, the striker made no mistake 7 minutes later when he slid in to meet Joel Cooper's cross and send the ball beyond Neeson to double the Linfield lead.

3 minutes before the break, Cliftonville pulled one back as Thomas McDonald broke into the Blues box before flicking the ball to Jay Donnelly, who teed up Joe Gormley to fire past Roy Carroll from 12 yards.

The goal set up a tense spell which appeared to be broken by Waterworth scoring Linfield's third in the 59th minute. Millar tied his marker Levi Ives in knots before swinging in a cross from the right, with the striker jumping highest at the near post to make it three.

However, Cliftonville took less than two minutes to reply through Jamie Harney, who popped up at the back post to head in Garry Breen's ball that came back across the box following Chris Curran's corner.

Linfield finally took control in the 81st minute; Jamie Mulgrew's audacious outside of the foot pass sent Niall Quinn free down the left, and he squared the ball for Waterworth to complete his hat-trick with a straightforward finish from 6 yards.