Linfield boss David Healy has 'no doubt' over Kyle Lafferty after winning Linfield debut

The 35-year-old arrived this week from Kilmarnock and looked like a player that had just sat out a whopping 10-game ban when he made an instant debut against Cliftonville at Windsor Park on Saturday.

Lafferty really should have sent the big home crowd into a frenzy after half an hour when he was presented with a golden chance by skipper Jamie Mulgrew, but he shamefully hoofed his effort from only six yards over the top.

It was a second half Kris Lowe own goal that duly separated the teams. Kirk Millar’s excellent work on the right resulted in the defender nudging the winger’s cross over the line.

The Blues should have been out of sight only for Chris McKee, Joel Cooper and Sam Roscoe fluffing their lines when it mattered.

It could have been costly because the Reds, pushing everyone forward to salvage the situation, had a Joe Gormley goal ruled out for offside before Blues goalkeeper Chris Johns got down brilliantly to deny Ronan Hale late on.

By that stage, Lafferty had taken his seat beside his manager in the dugout, replaced by Ethan Devine.

“I’ve always had a lot of time for Kyle, he’s someone I’ve known for a long time,” said Healy. “He’s someone I’ve always respected as a player.

“I have no doubt about Kyle’s ability, and I believe he’ll be a good signing for us. He will have better games. He’d been out a long time with the ban, but when the opportunity arose about signing him, I’d never any doubts. Kyle has played for some huge clubs, so coming to Linfield wasn’t a problem for him.

“The buzz around training since his arrival was good. I’ve no doubt he’ll improve going forward."

On his team’s win, Healy added: “We know we’ve not been good enough against the top six clubs, it’s fact. I’ve been speaking to our players over the past few weeks about that.

“It was important we got that burden off our back – but we now have another big clash coming up against Glentoran on Tuesday night. It was important to beat one of our top six rivals, especially a team that was four points ahead of us.

“It was important to close the gap, but it’s now vital we back up the performance against Glentoran with another three points.”

Cliftonville manager Paddy McLaughlin believes his team deserved to leave with something.

“It was one of those days, no matter how we huffed and puffed, we couldn’t break them down,” he said.

“When we play on the front, we’re a better side. It’s just a pity we didn’t show a bit more bravery in the first half, it could have been different.”

LINFIELD: Johns, Finlayson, Newberry, Roscoe, Clarke, Shields, Mulgrew, Millar (Pepper 86), McKee (McClean 83), Cooper, Lafferty (Devine 83).

CLIFTONVILLE: Gartside, Lowe, Coates, Addis, Ives (Traynor 77), Gallagher (Curran 77), Rory Hale (McDonagh 64), R Doherty, Moore (Gormley 64), Parkhouse, Ronan Hale.