RED HOT CLIFTONVILLE MARCH ON
Cliftonville stormed their way to the top of the table with a comprehensive defeat of Carrick Rangers at Solitude.
The Reds raced into an early lead when, after six minutes, Rory Hale won possession wide on the right and evaded a number of challenges before crossing into the box for Ben Wilson to tap home.
Kyle Cherry came close to levelling for Carrick soon after only to send his effort just wide of the far post after running onto a Danny Purkis through ball ... while Purkis sent a header just the wrong side of the target not long after that.
However Cliftonville doubled their advantage midway through the first half when Ronan Doherty converted from the spot, awarded after he had been brought down in the area, with a finish into the roof of Ross Glendinning's net.
To their credit the visitors kept pressing and almost reduced the deficit just after the half-hour mark only for Cherry to see an effort dip just over the crossbar.
But, for the third game in a row, Cliftonville went in at the break three goals to the good when - on 42 minutes - Wilson doubled his tally with a close range tap in after receiving another ball from skipper Hale.
And Hale himself completed the scoring midway through the second half after making the most of a poor clearance to lob the ball over the Rangers keeper.
Cliftonville: Gartside, Stewart, Addis, Gallagher, Hale, Lowe, Robinson, Doherty, Casey, Turner, Wilson subs Odumosu, Pepper, C. Curran, McDonagh, Storey, McGuinness, Berry
Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Forsythe, Stewart, Watson, Cushley, Mitchell, Buchanan-Rolleston, Crowe, Cherry, Purkis, Tilney subs McCauley, Surgenor, McGuckin, Allen, Maciulaitis, Montgomery, Reece Glendinning
Substitution 
Substitution 
