Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins says his side "lacked quality" in the final third during their 1-0 defeat by Cliftonville at Solitude on Saturday.

Rory Hale's goal in the 40th minute sealed the three points for the home side and extended the Reds' unbeaten run against Coleraine to 16 games.

Higgins' side remain top of the table but missed the chance to extend their slender advantage over Larne in second position to more than a point.

"We are obviously extremely disappointed," Higgins told BBC Sport NI.

"In the second half we had majority of the play, got into countless good areas over and over again and lacked quality when we got into the final third.

"We have outstanding footballers, but we probably had too many today who weren't at their best. Hence the reason we are going away from Solitude with no points."

Image source, Pacemaker

Watch the highlights from the previous Premiership meeting between Larne and Coleraine on the opening weekend of the season.

Coleraine ran out 1-0 winners at Ballycastle Road thanks to Joel Cooper's late goal.

Irish Premiership leaders Coleraine's home game with Larne will be shown live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website on Tuesday night.

The game at the Coleraine Showgrounds will see the top two in the league go head-to-head for the second time this season.

Michael Clarke will be joined on commentary by former Ballymena United and Linfield boss David Jeffrey.

Larne are a point behind Coleraine with two games in hand and have won their last three league games.

Coleraine, meanwhile, have failed to win their last two, losing 1-0 against Cliftonville on Saturday.

Joel Cooper scored the winner on his debut for the Bannsiders to help Ruaidhri Higgins' side claim a 1-0 win when the two teams met in August.

Here's how the table looks ahead of tonight's two Irish Premiership games.

Image source, BBC Sport

Hello and welcome to our coverage of tonight's Irish Premiership games.

At 19:45 GMT, it's a meeting of the top two at The Showgrounds as Coleraine welcome second placed Larne with the sides coming in off the back of contrasting results.

Larne narrowed the gap at the top to one point with a 2-1 home win over Glenavon on Friday, but Coleraine fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Cliftonville on Saturday as they failed to stretch their lead with their nearest challengers sitting with two games in hand.

That game will be live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

Also at 19:45 GMT, Linfield host Crusaders at Windsor Park.

David Healy's Blues took a 1-0 win at Bangor on Saturday to remain within striking distance of the leaders with three games in hand, while Crusaders had to settle for a point as a late Daniel Lafferty goal denied them victory in a 2-2 draw against Ballymena United.

We will have live text commentary and in-play clips from both games so you won't miss a thing, while we will also keep you updated from this evening's County Antrim Shield semi-final between Ballymena United and Cliftonville.

Enjoy!

Image source, Inpho