Newry City suffer cruel late defeat to Cliftonville in Barry Gray's first league match in charge

Cliftonville centre back Jonny Addis broke Newry City’s hearts with a late stoppage time winner on Saturday afternoon.

City fought valiantly against the odds in manager Barry Gray’s first league match in charge, but ultimately the north Belfast side pulled victory out of the bag with their last chance of the game.

Newry’s top scorer Adam Salley had given the hosts the lead with a perfectly-placed glancing header in the second minute, and they competed tremendously against the title chasers for the remainder of the first half.

However, in stoppage time before the break a moment of madness from Ciaran O’Connor saw the Newry midfielder sent off, after he dived into a challenge against Rory Hale with two feet.

That meant Newry would have to hold onto their lead with 10 men for the entirety of the second half.

Then, two minutes into the second period Addis fired home from 30 yards with one of the best goals of the season, leaving Newry on the ropes.

Despite that, they never gave in, and after misses from Ronan Hale and Joe Gormley, Newry looked set to hold onto a valuable point.

But cruelly, in the seventh minute of stoppage time Cliftonville got one last chance, and Addis fired home his second from close range to leave Gray’s men empty handed.

For full match report and reaction from manager Barry Gray see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday January 17!