Sports Direct Premiership
Carrick Rangers 1-2 Larne
Larne came up with two second half goals to defeat East Antrim rivals Carrick Rangers 2-1 at Taylor’s Avenue in the Sports Direct Premiership.
It was fair to say the game was a slow burner, with next to no action in the opening 20 minutes. However, the game exploded into life as the Larne defence was split by a route one pass.
Danny Gibson was the beneficiary of it and, despite suspicions of offside, he rounded the advancing Rohan Ferguson who was left in no-man’s land as Gibson unselfishly squared to Nedas Maciulaitis to finish on 24 minutes.
The visitors responded well and Conor McKendry curled one just over the bar almost straight from the kick off, while Tiarnan O’Connor had Ross Glendinning stretching to parry his effort. The Carrick defence was bending but not breaking and Sean Graham’s deep corner delivery was headed against the post by Tomas Cosgrove.
However, Gibson should have done better at the other end when he miscontrolled Kyle Cherry’s delicious delivery when, perhaps, a first-time effort would have been a better option.
Those two combined again just before the break when Gibson touched Cherry’s free kick wide while David Cushley’s piledriver free kick stung the palms of Ferguson as the hosts finished the opening stanza on top.
Despite this, the visitors almost caught Rangers cold straight from the restart but Graham planted his header straight at Glendinning to let Stephen Baxter’s men off the hook less than a minute after the restart. Gary Haveron would have been hoping that this would be the spark for his side but that wasn’t quite the case as the game fell into a lull.
However, the home side made the mistake of allowing former Ballymena man Graham an almost carbon copy chance and he made no mistake this time planting a soft header from Conor McKendry’s cross past a wrong-footed Glendinning.
The game was played with all the intensity of a derby with strong challenges flying in. Ryan Nolan perhaps could count himself fortunate that referee Tony Clarke saw nothing wrong with his sliding challenge on Cherry.
With the game in the balance, both sides threw caution to the wind looking for the three points. There were Larne hearts in mouths when the ball bobbled around the box in front of Ferguson’s goal but neither Gibson nor Ethan Boyle could swipe it home.
As the clock ticked down and Larne were staring at back-to-back 1-1 draws, Aaron Donnelly picked out former Welders striker O’Connor who ran into space down the left flank before cutting in and picking out the far corner for his first goal for the Inver Reds in his third game.
The men in red saw out the remaining time after that 83rd minute strike to hold on for a win on their first trip down the A2 this season.
Carrick remain second from bottom and have not won a league game now since the end of November as their poor run of form continues. Larne, meanwhile, move up to fourth just two points behind second-placed Glentoran having played three games less.
Coleraine are the visitors to Taylor’s Avenue on Saturday while Larne host Crusaders at Inver Park.