The points were shared at the Showgrounds as Coleraine and Cliftonville fought out a goalless draw, a result which sees the Bannsiders leapfrog Ballymena United in the table.
Jamie McGonigle looked lively in the opening stages of the first half and forced David Odumosu into a fine save in the ninth minute, the Reds’ goalkeeper diving full length to his left to parry the striker’s goalbound shot.
At the other end, Destiny Ojo should have done better after Luke Conlan skipped past Jack Scott on the left wing, but the big Cliftonville striker was unable to get contact on the ball with the goal at his mercy.
Conor Pepper blazed over the bar when presented with the chance by an errant pass out of defence by Lyndon Kane while Connor Murray did likewise from the edge of the penalty area.
Murray continued to look the most likely to break the deadlock for the hosts and he forced Odumosu into a smart save just before the hour mark with a well struck shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Matthew Shevlin and Joe Gormley, with 32 league goals evenly divided between them, were introduced by their respective managers with a quarter of the game remaining but it was Declan McManus who almost broke the deadlock.
The striker did well to close down Jack Keaney’s attempted clearance but was left frustrated as his block went just the wrong side of the post much to Odumosu’s relief.
The visitors were restricted to few chances in the second period and while Odhran Casey came close to grabbing all three points in added time he was unable to direct his header on target from a Micheal Glynn cross.
Leave a Reply