Cliftonville proving we can go toe to toe with the best, claims Jim Magilton after Larne draw
Cliftonville’s Luke Turner and Larne’s Shea Gordon clash at Solitude
Cliftonville and Larne shared the points following an entertaining encounter at Solitude yesterday that ended with a goal apiece.
Ben Wilson grabbed the opener in eye-catching style on 35 minutes before Larne levelled from the penalty spot through Lee Bonis on the stroke of half time.
The Reds had the lion's share of the ball and had bags of chances to score more, but had to settle for a point.
New striker Sam Ashford was given his debut as it was announced Cliftonville had also signed 19-year-old midfielder Luke Kenny on loan from St Mirren, and Ashford enjoyed an impressive debut alongside Wilson in attack.
The pair combined well on ten minutes when Wilson picked out the former Ayr United forward with a deft cross for Ashford to nod just over the bar from eight yards.
Luke Turner should have done better four minutes later when he nodded a free header over the bar from similar range as Larne struggled to deal with Cliftonville's intensity.
The visitors suffered another blow when star striker Andy Ryan went off injured on 19 minutes, to be replaced by Isaac Westendorf.
Tiernan Lynch's team tried to play their usual passing game but were often shut down by tigerish midfield duo Chris Gallagher and captain Rory Hale and lacked penetration going forward.
Wilson just failed to reach a clipped Ronan Doherty ball to the back post but opened the scoring on 35 minutes in magnificent fashion.
Referee Chris Morrison wisely waved play on when Hale was chopped down by Scott Allan, allowing Wilson to run on and bend a wonderful side-footed shot beyond Rohan Ferguson from 25 yards.
The lively Ashford then tried his luck with a rasping drive tipped round the post
Read on belfasttelegraph.co.uk
