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Steven Crawford

'No way he's claiming this!' - Matthew Clarke ribbed by teammate over Linfield winner

Linfield's winner against Cliftonville on Saturday may prove to be a big goal in the title race, but there is still some doubt as to who actually scored it.

Reds defender Kris Lowe looked to put it through his own net while Blues star Matthew Clarke was credited by some as having the final touch.

But his Linfield teammate Conor Pepper was having none of it.

Read more: Ex-Irish League defender recalls earning Kirk Hunter respect with 50-50 tackle

Replying to a Twitter post by the official Linfield account about the goal Pepper tweeted: "No way he's claiming this?" before tagging his fellow defender.

To be fair to Clarke he replied tongue in cheek saying: "Vital big toe on her."

Speaking to Linfield TV the left back played down his contribution when asked if he got the final touch.

"I'm not sure about that," said Clarke.

"It was a big goal in the context of the game, it won the game for us, but I'm not sure if I got the final touch or not, I'll watch it back and see."

With only two wins against their fellow top six sides in the run up to Saturday's game at Windsor Park Clarke was delighted to see the Blues take all three points against their fellow title challengers especially ahead of Tuesday night's Big Two clash.

"Our record against the top six hasn't been good enough, as players we take responsibility for that," he said.

"We haven't scored enough against the top six teams, but that's a big three points today.

"We'll take it game by game, but we'll take that into Tuesday night, which is going to be another massive game.

"We'll never get too down in defeat or too high in victory, we'll just take it game by game.

"It's the business end of the season now and we can't afford to drop any more points now going into the split."

Kyle Lafferty made his debut for Linfield and Clarke feels it won't be too long before he's chipping in with goals.

"Laffs has settled in well, hopefully he'll find the net shortly," he said.

"Bringing in a player of that quality is massive, I think it gave everyone at the club a lift and it's something we definitely needed.

"It won't take Laffs long to settle in here, he's played at top clubs throughout the world."

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