FOOTBALL: Coleraine clinch win at Cliftonville

Solitude's new 3G surface might have borne the same distinctive hue as the traditional pitch, but Eddie Patterson's men failed to set up a happy homecoming as Coleraine marched to a comfortable 2-0 victory.

The Bannsider' goals came from David Scullion and Stephen Lowry but they should have been ahead as early as the first minute only for Paul Brown to somehow head over the crossbar from all of a yard out.

Having settled after a panicked beginning, Cliftonville began to play some neat football and were left screaming for a 25th minute penalty when Stephen Garrett appeared to have been felled inside the area by Davy O'Hare.

Referee Keith Halliday waved play on, just as he did three minutes later when Chris Scannell was sent tumbling after a block from Kyle McVey.

Coleraine opened the scoring just past the half-hour, Stephen Carson delivering for Scullion to nod home at the far post.

And it was 2-0 right before the break, Brown atoning for his earlier howler by providing the cross from which Lowry converted.

CLIFTONVILLE: Connolly, Fleming, R Scannell, Hutton, B Holland, Donaghy, McMullan, C Scannell, Garrett, Caldwell, O'Connor. Subs: Smyth, Lynch (for R Scannell, 68 mins), Donnelly (for O'Connor, 68 mins), Jones (for Fleming, 83 mins), McVeigh

COLERAINE: O'Hare, Beverland, Hegarty, McVey, Lowry, Scullion, Carson, Canning, Watt, Harkin, Brown. Subs: Mukendi, Boyce, Docherty, Donnell (for Carson, 90 mins), Harkness.

REFEREE: Keith Halliday (Bangor)