Larne 1-1 Cliftonville

Larne and Cliftonville played out a 1-1 draw at Inver Park that would have left both teams frustrated at their inability to claim all 3 points.

The home side had opened the scoring in the 19th minute when David McDaid’s sweeping cross from deep was turned into the net by the unfortunate Garry Breen’s diving header for a spectacular own goal.

In the 28th minute, the defender almost made amends at the other end of pitch, but his glancing header from Ronan Doherty’s corner went just wide of the bottom corner.

However, just 2 minutes later he set up the opener with a long free kick forward to Joe Gormley.

The striker controlled the ball superbly, shrugged off a defender, and then hammered it past Devlin from a tight angle via a touch off the underside of the bar.

Larne should have gone 2-1 up in the 62nd minute when David McDaid was played in by Mark Randall, but the striker blazed the ball over the bar after rounding the keeper.

Neither side was able to take control of the final half hour, and the draw may have left both wondering if they could have done enough to win the match.