The Reds left it late, though, to claim the points and only gained the upper hand when George McMullan slotted an 80th minute effort past Philip Matthews after Chris Scannell beat David McAlinden to create the opening.

Eddie Patterson's will be feeling frustrated, however, about leaving it as long as that after squandering a host of first half opportunities with the pick being a 23rd minute Scannell drive against the post from close range.

Scannell was thwarted again on 46 minutes after he was unable to keep the ball from going over after Matthews had fumbled a Kieran O'Connor shot.

And these missed chances almost cost the title hopefuls dearly right at the end when Glenn Ferguson worked an opening for himself only for his low drive to be superbly saved by John Connolly.