CLEAN SHEETS PLEASE BOSS ORAN

Ballinamallard Utd 0 Coleraine 2

COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney has praised the league leaders for digging out results with clean sheets at a crucial stage of the season.

Ian Parkhill and Brad Lyons (left) were on target as the Bannmen beat Ballinamallard 2-0 to retain their six-point lead at the top of the table.

Parkhill opened the scoring with a deflected shot on 29 minutes before Lyons made sure of the points late on when he raced clear to slot past Richard Brush.

Boss Kearney said: “The big release was the first goal and we were prepared to see it out at 1-0. There’s no shame in doing that if we need to.

“There are lots of different ways to win games. We’re delighted with our second clean sheet in a row and it was another big three points.”

Elsewhere, in-form Cliftonville climbed up to third with a 1-0 win over Glentoran at Solitude. The Reds, who have have won their last seven league games, secured the points when Levi Ives fired home his first goal of the season on 69 minutes.

Boss Barry Gray said: “It wasn’t our best performance but we dug in for a massive three points after a two-week break because of the weather.”

OTHER RESULTS: Ballymena U 3 (K Owens, C Mccloskey, M Shevlin) Carrick R 1 (E Mcallister); Dungannon S 0 Ards 0.