However, the depleted squad rose to the occasion, out-battling their Reds counterparts to give the team a fighting, grafting, well-deserved win.

Due to the inflated injury-list, centre-back Jay Magee took up the unfamiliar right wing position and youngsters Gareth Scott and Ryan Blayney took a seat on the bench.

Slightly easing the injury headache was Brian Mallon who returned to the starting eleven in place of the sidelined Tim McCann.

Glenavon began the game brightly with Hugh Dickson and Jay Magee both missing headed opportunities on three minutes. Cliftonville, however, soon hit back and could have made Glenavon pay for these missed chances.

Continuing the end-to-end action in the opening 10 minutes, Glenavon went straight back up the pitch following O’Connor’s miss only for Trevor Molloy’s shot to be blocked before Arian Harper’s long-range effort went high over the bar.

Then, on 18 minutes, some slack defending by Glenavon’s defence led to Mark Holland finding himself free on the edge of the before crossing to Ronan Scannell whose diving header went narrowly wide of the left post.

Just shy of the half hour mark, as the game threatened to descend into one of few chances, tempers began to flare with several players, as well as Red’s boss, Eddie Patterson, trying the patience of the officials.

As the action eventually returned to the goalmouths, it was in somewhat comical fashion. After a Cliftonville attack broke down, Hugh Dickson’s clearance struck Rory Hamill before meeting the tips of Robert Robinson’s out-stretched fingers and smashing off the bottom of the viciously shaken post.

Then, as so often happens in this cruel sport, Cliftonville found themselves trailing against the run of play. Trevor Molloy and the typically outstanding Tony Grant played an impressive one-two on the right wing, before the former fired in a looping cross perfectly onto the head of Willo McDonagh at the back post. The former Glentoran man’s header caught the hand of the flying John Connolly, but forced its way into the back of the net, nonetheless.

As the second half began, Glenavon forced what would be a rare attack as Trevor Molloy’s cross found the head of Tony Grant, who could only direct the ball narrowly wide of the goal.

Cliftonville then regained their dominance on possession and chances, Chris Scannell finding himself one on one with Blues’ ‘keeper Robert Robinson. As was the order of the day, “Goose” came out of the encounter on top, making an impressive save with his outstretched right boot.

As was the case in the first half, the game then became predominantly played in the centre of the park in the middle of the half. As it did so, tension again built up around the ground with Blues’ fans craving the three points.

In the closing quarter of the match, their team put in arguably their most impressive stint in the game, showing their heart and desire to win the game at all costs with several crunching tackles.