Soccer

Cliftonville and Larne advance in Bet McLean Cup

Larne’s Matthew Lusty grabbed a hatrick against Annagh.

Lusty celebrates Larne's second goal during this evening’s 2-0 win agianst Glentoran at Inver Park, Larne
Matthew Lusty celebrates a Larne goal against Glentoran at Inver Park, Larne. Photo - Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Press (Andrew McCarroll/Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Pres)
Bet McLean Cup
Armagh City 0-3 Cliftonville
Annagh United 0-4 Larne

Both Larne and Cliftonville negotiated their away tasks without a huge deal of stress to Annagh and Armagh respectively tonight, as they advance to the Bet McLean Cup quarter-final.

Centre forward Matthew Lusty grabbed a hatrick, and he opened the scoring for Larne, drilling into the corner from outside the box after a clearance from Annagh fell into his path.

The away side carried that slim advantage into the break, but they began to make their dominance count as they ramped up the pressure straight after the break.

By 50 minutes they had three on the board - and Lusty had his second - with his volley preceded by an own goal turned in from a dangerous Benji Magee cross.

And Leroy Miller marked his return with a goal late on, making certain of the result by turning in Tomas Cosgrove’s pull-back, before Lusty completed his treble in injury time.

Elsewhere Clifonville got the better of Armagh to make the last eight. Ryan Curran broke the deadlock four minutes into the second half after a fairly uneventful opening 45 minutes.

Rory Hale doubled their advantage in the 66th minute, and Coran Madden saw it through with a third with the match in the dying embers.