Northern Ireland round-up: Linfield rue missed chance

Champions Linfield FC missed the opportunity to take over at the top of the Irish League table by failing to win at home against Glenavon FC.

Very few chances
The Windsor Park team had the chance to take pole position on Saturday as joint-leaders, Glentoran FC and Portadown FC, had their matches called off due to waterlogged pitches. However they had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Glenavon, last season’s runners-up, restricted Linfield to very few chances throughout the match and it was only in the closing seconds that visiting keeper Paul Rice had to make a serious save to prevent full-back Stephen Collier scoring a winning goal.

Title challenge maintained
Coleraine FC maintained their title challenge with a convincing 4-1 victory away to Newry Town FC at the Marshes. The visitors raced into a 3-0 lead before the break, although the hosts did pull a goal back prior to the interval, but the damage was done and Coleraine cruised to victory in the second half. 

Four-star show
Jody Tolan opened the scoring by heading in Joe Gray's 14th-minute corner, and Coleraine doubled their advantage midway through the half through Sean Armstrong, before former Linfield midfielder Ian McCoosh made it 3-0 in the 39th minute. Newry gave themselves some hope when the in-form Graeme Arthur converted a Gareth Fulton centre two minutes before half-time. Coleraine continued in charge and another former Linfield man, Stephen Beatty completed the scoring with an 88th-minute penalty.

Parkes gets first win
At the bottom end of the table, Ards FC moved to within a point of Crusaders FC with a 2-1 victory against their fellow strugglers. Ards had to give up home advantage but still picked up all three points at Seaview. Midfielder Gary Sliney put Ards in front with a 38th-minute penalty. Crusaders made a great start to the second half with full-back Paul Muir equalising within a minute of the restart, but veteran forward Paul Millar slipped the ball past goalkeeper Paul Kee in the 73rd minute to give Ards' Frankie Parkes his first league victory since taking over as manager in early December.

Rearranged match
Portadown's home match against Omagh Town FC has been re-arranged for Tuesday 5 February. No new date has been fixed as yet for Glentoran's trip to Solitude to take on Cliftonville FC.