NIFL Premiership Round-up - Week 8

Glenavon surged to the top of the Danske Bank Premiership as their fine start to the season continued with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Cliftonville on Saturday afternoon.

An Andy McGrory goal on 70 minutes was enough to give the Lurgan based side their fourth win in a row when he reacted first as Reds keeper Conor Devlin could only parry Gareth McKeown’s free kick.

It was the Champions third defeat of the season and they were guilty of missing a succession of chances - the bulk of which fell to normally deadly Joe Gormley - but spurned them all to slip to third in the table, two points behind Gary Hamilton’s charges.

The player manager introduced himself off the bench in the closing stages, to replace the injured Guy Bates, and almost wrapped up the points but had his spectacular effort tipped onto the bar by Devlin.

The home side fought hard for the points in the closing stages as Cliftonville searched for a late equaliser but they held on to lay down a serious statement of intent for the coming season.

Gary Twigg’s eighth and ninth goal of the season were not enough to give Portadown victory as Crusaders struck late to grab a deserved share of the spoils at Seaview.

The North Belfast side were very much in the ascendancy in the opening half hour and Portadown had David Miskelley to thank for keeping them in the game as he went full stretch to palm Craig McLean’s free kick around the post.

Crusaders were not to be denied however, and Eamonn McAllister blasted home the opener in the 27^th minute. Twigg sent his side in level at half time as he latched onto Darren Murray’s flick and raced through to blast past Sean O’Neill. The second half was again dominated by the home side but they were made to pay for some wayward finishing when the former Shamrock Rovers striker again popped up in the box to give the Ports an unlikely lead on 77^thminutes.

A defeat would have been hard on Stephen Baxter’s side but they got their just reward three minutes later when Declan Caddell steered in Paul Heatley’s cross to grab a point that moves them into sixth place.

Linfield continued their impressive run with a fourth straight win as second half goals from Jamie Mulgrew and Andy Waterworth sealed a 2-1 victory over Ballinamallard United at Ferney Park.

Mulgrew forced home the opener to put the Blues ahead on 68 minutes before Waterworth lobbed Mallards goalkeeper Alvin Rouse with Andy Crawford replying for the hosts two minutes from time. The loss was Ballinamallard’s third in four games and sees them slip to tenth in the table, six points ahead of Warrenpoint Town.

The South Down side were unlucky to lose out to Coleraine as they fought back from two goals down to draw level but were cruelly undone as Gary Browne chipped in his second to move Coleraine up to seventh.

In other results Ballymena United held Glentoran to a goal less draw at the Oval while a Darren Boyce goal was enough to give Dungannon Swifts a victory over Ards who are still rooted to the bottom of the league.