Glentoran 1-0 Cliftonville

Ronnie McFall's short-term tenure at the Oval began with a win as Glentoran beat Cliftonville 1-0 in the Danske Bank Premiership.

Curtis Allen's second-half header proved to be the deciding factor in a tense game between the Belfast rivals.

Cliftonville almost took a 4th minute lead after Conor McDonald played a ball through to Rory Donnelly. The striker showed clever feet to scoop an effort beyond Morris from a narrow angle only to see it come back off the post.

7 minutes later, Glentoran were given a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot. Curtis Allen raced in behind and beat Brian Neeson to the ball, but the keeper fouled him and was booked for his error.

However, he immediately made up for it as he got down low to his left to pull off a superb save and deny Allen from 12 yards.

Both clubs then had reasonable shouts for a penalty waved away by the referee, each incident coming either side of Allen missing a straightforward chance at the back post for Glentoran.

10 minutes into the second half Jay Donnelly looked almost certain to score for the visitors after being cleverly slipped in by Stephen Garrett, but Morris was able to deny him at the near post.

The game opened up as the second half progressed, and it was home side who took the lead just after the hour mark.

Cliftonville made a mess of an offside trap and Neeson had to come charging out to slap the ball clear with 3 attackers bearing down on him.

Willie Garret's follow-up shot was then cleared off the line by 2 defenders, but as the ball was pinging around the box it was Allen in the right place at the right time to head the Glens in front from close range.

The visitors rallied and forced Morris into smart saves from substitutes Joe Gormley and Jude Winchester as they went on an increasingly desperate hunt for an equaliser that never materialised.