UEFA Europa Conference League
Larne 1-2 St Gallen
LARNE put up a brave fight before eventually going down 2-1 to St Gallen at the National Stadium.
An early own goal had Larne dreamland, but the Swiss visitors composed to level themselves mid-way through the first half.
Just when it looked like Tiernan Lynch’s men were inching their way to a memorable point in the UEFA Conference League St Gallen scored on the break to win it 11 minutes from time.
Larne were coming into this game off the back of a sobering 4-1 defeat to Shamrock Rovers a fortnight ago.
They conceded in the opening minutes of that game and it looked as if history was going to repeat itself when Kevin Csoboth had the ball in the net with less than two minutes gone. However, he was denied by an offside flag, which was confirmed after a VAR check.
It then went immediately from despair to ecstasy for the Invermen.
Chris Gallagher led a break away for the home side, finding Jordan McEneff who surged towards the St Gallen box and his searching pass was poked beyond his own goalkeeper by the long legs of Abdoulaye Diaby.
The goal provided the ideal start for Lynch’s men and saw them take the for the first time in this League Phase format.
The Premiership Champions settled into the game and were restricting the Swiss visitors to set pieces and long-range efforts for the most part.
However, St Gallen levelled the match on 29 minutes with a real piece of quality. Chima Okoroji played an inch-perfect crossfield pass from the left which landed into the path of Lukas Gortler and he cushioned a volley past Rohan Ferguson from 12 yards out.
The remainder of the half continued in a similar pattern of the visitors enjoying the majority of possession, moving the Larne defence around looking for an opening.
Larne to their credit, continued to keep their shape, undeterred by conceding the equaliser.
The second half began in much the same fashion, with the Invermen keen to show they had learned the lessons of the Rovers game and St Gallen struggling to create a chance of note.
Larne were tempted forward with 11 minutes to go and were left to rue it when it led to the visitors taking the lead for the first time.
From an attacking throw-in skipper Cian Bolger and a number of defenders went forward, which left them vulnerable to the break, which is what transpired with substitute Christian Witzig bombing down the left before sweeping the ball to the back post for Hugo Vandermersch to poke the ball home from inside the six-yard box.