The Reds might have opened the scoring after just nine minutes when George McMullan drove the ball against the crossbar while Conor Downey failed to keep his follow-up on target.

And not long after Stuart Addis pulled off a superb one-handed save to keep a Chris Scannell effort out.

Further chances followed through Mark Holland and John O'Loughlin but the deadlock wasn't broken until eight minutes after the break when George McMullan unleashed a strong shot into the bottom left corner following some poor home defending.

Mark Holland made it 2-0 on the hour when he converted a penalty awarded for a Kevin Henry foul on Ronan Scannell.

Then, seven minutes later, it got even worse for the Villagers when Henry was dismsissed for a second bookable offence.