IRISH LEAGUE: David Healy hails Linfield players as they take title race to the wire

Goals from Stephen Lowry and Andy Waterworth not only earned the Blues their first Danske Premiership win over the Reds this season, but also helped cut the gap on table topping Crusaders to seven points.

Healy’s boys have now won 10 and drawn one of their last 11 games, indicating they have ambitions to take the title race to the wire.

“I thought we were good tonight,” said Healy, adding: “Had we been a little bit more ruthless in front of goal, it could have been a lot more. We probably should have done a little bit better from free kicks and set plays.

“Sometimes games hinge on missed penalty kicks, we scored and they missed. But it was a game I always thought we controlled.

“When you miss chances, 2-0 becomes a dangerous score line. You always have it in the back of your mind, if they get one back, the game is open again. But we managed the game pretty well and saw it out.”

Reds boss Gerard Lyttle was in no mood to hand out any compliments.

“We were poor from start to finish and got what we deserved -- nothing.” he said.

“Our penalty miss was a game changer. Had Jay Donnelly scored, all of a sudden it’s 1-1. but our heads went down after that. I don’t know how many penalties we’ve missed this season. It is criminal and has cost us vital points.”