Just as in the last game between the two sides Cliftonville snatched a stoppage time winner to take all three points against Glentoran at a blustery Solitude.

  The Glens started the brighter of the two sides without turning their possession into clear cut chances and it took a mistake from Dermot McVeigh on thirteen minutes to present the visitors with their first opening, but Darren Boyce, restored to the starting eleven, pulled his effort wide of the post.  Four minutes later a somewhat freakish goal saw the Glens take the lead.  David Howland and Stephen Carson worked a short corner on the left and the latter’s whipped cross bamboozled Cliftonville goalkeeper John Connolly who got a touch but the ball crept in at the far post.
This setback seemed to spark the Reds into life with Cliftonville’s man of the moment Rory Donnelly firing just wide of the post from outside the box.  A minute later the same player had a glorious chance to equalise when he capitalised on a mistake by Sean Ward to leave himself one on one with Elliott Morris, but his attempted chip ended up on the roof of the net.  Soon after Cliftonville midfielder Ryan Catney sent in a stinging twenty five yard effort which clipped off the top of Morris’s crossbar.  There were few chances for the rest of the half but both sides were getting frustrated by some strange decisions by referee Mark Courtney, and no fewer than eight players ended up in his notebook in what was not by any means a dirty game.
As the second half progressed Cliftonville were coping better with the difficult, windy conditions and started to play the sort of passing football that has become their trademark in recent weeks.  Four minutes in a George McMullan cross caused all sorts of problems in the Glentoran defence and a close range effort saw Morris beaten but captain Colin Nixon, making his 750th appearance for the Glens, was on hand to clear the ball off the line.  McVeigh and substitute Ciaran Donaghy also came close with headers and, with the Glens clearly second best, manager Scott Young decided to send on Gary Hamilton, missing for the last three games with a toe injury, in place of Boyce.  However it was the Cliftonville substitutes who were to make their mark on the game.  Ciaran Caldwell stung Morris’s hands with a long range effort just after coming on, and on seventy two minutes he hooked the ball forward to fellow substitute Stephen Garrett whose run  was not picked up and he ran clear to finish emphatically high into the net.
The Glens were struggling to make any impression in attack at this stage with a Carson curler which was comfortably dealt with by Connolly and a Hamilton free kick which went just wide being all they had to show for their efforts.  With six minutes left Garrett should have netted the winner when he once again ran clear of the Glens defence but pulled his shot wide of the post.  As the clock ticked towards the ninety the Reds forced a series of fruitless corners which were delivered by Martin Donnelly and they may have thought it wasn’t to be their day, particularly when the ball was once again cleared off the line, this time by substitute Jim O’Hanlon.  However in the 92nd minute another Donnelly corner bounced around the six yard box, Sean Ward attempted to clear and the ball rebounded off Ciaran Martyn and into the back of the Glentoran net for a fortuitous but deserved winner.  There was still time for the visitors to try to snatch something from the game but Hamilton’s last gasp free kick was easily dealt with by Connolly and the referee’s final whistle saw the Glens head back across town empty handed.

Glentoran
Elliott Morris, Sean Ward, Colin Nixon, Jimmy Callacher, Ross Davison, Jaimie McGovern (sub Jim O’Hanlon 84 mins), David Howland, Ciaran Martyn, Stephen Carson, Darren Boyce (sub Gary Hamilton 59 mins), Richard Gibson

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