Cliftonville 0-2 Linfield

Jordan Stewart and Niall Quinn found the net as 10-man Linfield beat Cliftonville 2-0 at Solitude.

The home side had started brightly, and were much improved after their last showing on Boxing Day in a game that saw them hammered by North Belfast rivals Crusaders.

Joe Gormley looked to have given them what would have been a deserved lead in just the 10th minute, but Matthew Clarke slid in at the last second to prevent the striker from tapping into an empty net, having collected the rebound after Roy Carroll superb save from Rory Donnelly.

However, Linfield always looked dangerous, and when Quinn dragged a shot wide from inside the box on 32, it was a sign of things to come.

Chris Casement played a smart reverse pass to Kirk Millar, who was able to cross from the right for Stewart to beat Richard Brush with a heavily deflected header, which came off the back of Chris Curran's head.

It sparked Cliftonville to hunt for an immediate equaliser, and just 2 minutes after the opening goal, Donnelly saw his header from Harkin's cross bounce harmlessly off the base of Carroll's post.

Whatever Cliftonville had planned for the second half was undone within 90 seconds of kick off.

Linfield's Stewart volleyed a ball forward for Andy Waterworth to chase, but Harney and Brush made a mess of their efforts to clear it. The Cliftonville keeper came racing from his goal, but Waterworth beat both of them to the ball and knocked it ahead for Quinn to tap into an empty net.

The goal largely killed off any Cliftonville chance of a comeback, but the home side were suddenly handed an advantage with 15 minutes left to play.

Linfield sub Michael O'Conner got himself sent off within 5 minutes of entering the game after being shown 2 yellow cards. The first was for playing on after the offside flag had been raised, with the 2nd coming after he swung an arm at Damien McNulty.

However, the home side were unable to make their advantage count, and Linfield left with the points.