Irish Premiership talking points: ‘Sockgate’, a face-off and Gibson goals

Ultimately, some of the talking points around the eagerly anticipated ‘match of the day’ between Cliftonville and Coleraine surrounded events before the game and during the half-time interval of Saturday’s heavyweight encounter in north Belfast.

In the run-up to kick-off it emerged that Coleraine had neglected to bring their match socks to Solitude, with a representative of the Bannsiders having to be hastily dispatched to a local sports retailer to acquire the necessary footwear, in dark blue to avoid any potential clash of colours with their hosts.

Then, after a first half which saw both sides barely able to land a glove on their opponents, supporters were treated to a half-time face-off in the centre circle as boxers Matty Boreland and Ruadhan Farrell squared up.

Boreland, a Coleraine supporter, and Cliftonville fan Farrell, will meet on the undercard of the Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan rematch at Windsor Park on 13 September.

On the pitch, Magilton’s men and Higgins’ charges slugged it out after some early sparring, but neither was able to find a knockout blow and had to settle for a share of the points.

Despite the array of attacking talent on display, including Joel Cooper, Matthew Shevlin and Joe Gormley, defences were largely on top and goalmouth action mostly at a premium.

Ryan Curran came close to scoring for the home side while substitute Gormley believed the challenge which helped prevent him scoring in the dying moments was metaphorically ‘below the belt’ and should have been punished with a penalty.

Cliftonville still chase their first win of the season, while Coleraine fans retain high hopes that their club’s investment will continue to allow them to ‘punch above their weight’ in comparison with previous years and add to their solitary previous Irish League title success in 1974.