CURRAN ON TARGET AS REDS CONTINUE RUN
Cliftonville stretched their unbeaten run to five games thanks to a single goal defeat of Carrick Rangers at the Loughshore Hotel Arena.
Carrick enjoyed the better of what chances were created during the opening exchanges with Jordan Jenkins seeing an effort deflected just wide while he later found himself one-on-one with Aaron McCarey but he could only chip the ball over before Lloyd Anderson had a shot tipped against the base of an upright.
However, somewhat against the run of play, Ryan Curran fired Cliftonville in front just after the half-hour mark with a finish into the bottom left corner after the ball fell into his path.
Cliftonville might have doubled their lead early in the second half through efforts from Barry Coffey and Rory Hale but both failed to hit the target.
Carrick within a whisker of levelling on 56 minutes after Reece Glendinning had a go from distance but he his stunning strike came crashing back off the crossbar.
But the home side were dealt a blow just after the hour when they were reduced to ten men following Kurtis Forsythe's sending off for a reckless challenge on Paul O'Neill.
The Reds failed to make the most of a great chance to make it 2-0 with around a quarter-of-an-hour remaining. Kris Lowe brought the ball forward to find Michael McCrudden who cut it back for Ciaran O'Connor but he didn't test Hogg with the goal at his mercy.
Then a little after that Ryan Curran could have doubled his tally for the afternoon after doing well to control the ball but his goalbound effort was blocked by Reece Neale.
Carrick Rangers: Hogg, Forsythe, Neale, Surgenor, Loughran, Chapman, Cherry, Glendinning, Gibson, Anderson, Jenkins subs McKinty, Smith, Gordon, McKenna, Millar, Wylie, Storey
Cliftonville: McCarey, Breen, O'Reilly, C. Curran, R. Curran, Donnelly, Bagnall, Hale, Lowe, O'Neill, Coffey subs Dunne, Harney, O'Connor, McCrudden, Casey, O'Brien, Kearns
Substitution 
Substitution 
