It’s very much a case of ‘as you were’ at the top of the Sports Direct Premiership as leading duo Linfield and Cliftonville fought out a scoreless draw at Solitude.

The Blues remain in pole position on goal difference, and they came closest to finding a way through when – early in the second half – Joel Cooper unleashed a thunderous volley past keeper David Odumosu only for his effort to be ruled out offside.

Defending champions Larne were also involved in a goalless stalemate as they shared the spoils with Glenavon at Mourneview Park.

Tiernan Lynch’s side did enjoy the majority of chances throughout the encounter, and might have seized the advantage midway through the first half when Matthew Lusty crashed a strike against the crossbar while, a little later, Chris Gallagher grazed the woodwork with a volley.

Ballymena United, the form team at the minute, made it four wins on the bounce with an ultimately comfortable 4-1 defeat of bottom club Carrick Rangers at Taylors Avenue.

Jim Ervin’s charges raced into an early lead when goals from Aaron Jarvis and Daniel Lafferty inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour put them into a commanding position.

Rangers did pull one back through Steven Gordon around the hour mark, but two stoppage time penalties from Ben Kennedy put some gloss on the scoreline for the visitors.

Portadown came from two goals down to earn a point from Coleraine’s visit to Shamrock Park.

Rhyss Campbell opened the scoring for the Bannsiders on nine minutes after pouncing on some hesitant defending, a lead they doubled on 70 minutes when Matthew Shevlin fired past Aaron McCarey from the spot.

But Portadown have a habit of not knowing when they’re beaten, and so it proved soon after when Ryan Mayse reduced the deficit after beating the offside trap before – in the sixth minute of added time – Douglas Wilson tapped home the equaliser.

Dungannon Swifts continued their good recent form with a narrow defeat of Crusaders at Stangmore Park, with John McGovern bagging the only goal of the game towards the end of the first half after being played through by Gael Bigirimana.

Meanwhile, at the BetMcLean Oval, third placed Glentoran rediscovered their winning touch with a two-goal victory over Loughgall.

Jay Donnelly knocked home the opener on five minutes with a close range tap in, with Danny Amos doubling up early in the second half into the bottom left corner.