Larne hold off Crues as Coleraine and Glens win

Irish Premiership leaders Larne edged out Crusaders to claim a thrilling 4-2 win at Seaview.

Larne raced into a two-goal lead in north Belfast, but the Crues drew level before late efforts from Matty Lusty and Paul O'Neill secured the victory for Gary Haveron's men.

Coleraine remain eight points behind the Inver Reds after their routine 2-0 win over Bangor at Clandeboye Park.

Glentoran eased to a 2-0 win over Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park, while Linfield required a late own goal to beat Ballymena United 2-1 at Windsor Park.

Bottom side Glenavon came from behind to pick up a big three points as they defeated Cliftonville 2-1 at Mourneview Park.

In the late kick-off, Carrick Rangers continued their fine run of form as they picked up a comfortable 3-0 win over Portadown at Shamrock Park.

After a fairly even encounter for the opening quarter, the visitors hit the front after a well-worked move as Tiernan O'Connor nipped in front of his man to bury the ball beyond Jonny Tuffey from the edge of the six-yard box following Tomas Cosgrove's inviting cross.

The Inver Reds doubled their lead 10 minutes later as Fraser Bryden unfortunately headed into his own net after Cosgrove's inswinging corner hit the striker and fell in at the far post.

Declan Caddell's side halved the deficit seven minutes before the break after Harry Jewitt-White followed up from Jordan Forsyth's missed penalty to find the back of an empty net.

Larne started the second half with real intent, but it was up the other end where another goal arrived as Bryden volleyed home Thomas Maguire's cross with an exquisite strike into the top left-hand corner.

Substitute Lusty restored the visitors' lead after he gambled on Leon Barr's defensive error and slotted into the bottom corner past the onrushing Tuffey.

O'Neill put the icing on the cake for the visitors with his 50th goal for the club as he met Conor McKendry's cross with his head at the back post to secure all three points.

Gareth Deane was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the opening half and he did well to dive low to his right and turn away a Joel Cooper effort midway through the opening half.

He was again called into action just after the half hour when he produced an amazing double save to deny Matthew Shevlin and James Akintunde.

However, he was powerless to prevent Coleraine taking the lead just after the half hour as Mark Connolly set Shevlin up for his 14th league goal of the season.

The Bannsiders doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time as Wylie netted his first goal since his January move from Portadown.

Cooper's initial shot was well saved, but Wylie was quick to react, skipping past a number of defenders before planting his shot into the corner of the goal.

At the other end, Coleraine goalkeeper Ryan Schofield produced a brilliant save just before the break to deny Bangor captain Reece Neale, tipping the defender's long-range shot onto the crossbar.

The second half was a much more low key affair, Mark Coyle trying his luck from distance but failing to trouble Deane.

Neale volleyed over for the hosts as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion.

The afternoon was brightened for Bangor by the second half appearance off the bench of veteran striker Michael Halliday, who was making a first Premiership appearance in 4,669 days at the ripe old age of 46.

After an even start to the game, Andrew Mills was called into action to deny Caolan Marron's header from a Kealan Dillon free-kick. However, the Glentoran stopper spilled the ball with neither Danny Wallace nor Marron able to fire home from close range.

In the final five minutes of the half, the away side upped the tempo with James Singleton's shot denied by the left-hand post.

Glentoran's persistence would pay off and they opened the scoring just before the break when Pat Hoban got the faintest of touches on Joe Thomson's corner to nod home for his 15th league goal of the campaign.

Just after the restart, Marron's header looked like it had levelled the game, but the effort was ruled out as the defender was offside.

Declan Devine's side extended their advantage in the 70th minute when Hoban headed debutant Aaron McEneff's cross down for the onrushing Cammy Palmer, whose first-time finish flew past Declan Dunne.

Ballymena's Brad Wade was called into action early as he stopped Matthew Fitzpatrick's shot with his outstretched leg.

The home side then went in front on 11 minutes when Matt Yates' initial shot was beaten out by Wade but the rebound fell kindly for the Scottish striker to lash home a low shot with his left foot.

Linfield were within a whisker of doubling their lead on the half-hour mark when Kyle McClean played a neat one-two with Fitzpatrick before curling a shot which came back off the top of the crossbar.

The visitors then levelled eight minutes into the second half. David Toure crossed from the right and Linfield goalkeeper Chris Johns and defender Darragh Leahy failed to communicate with each other, which allowed Igor Rutkowski alert to steer home the loose ball.

Ballymena suffered a blow on 69 minutes when skipper Matthew Clarke was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Isaac Baird.

The home side regained the lead in fortuitous circumstance in the final minute when McClean's header towards goal was brilliantly cleared by Daithi McCallion but his clearance ricocheted off defensive partner Shane McEleney and spun into the net.

The home side started the brighter and should have taken the lead in the eighth minute when Peter Campbell's corner found Harry Murphy at the back post, but the defender failed to hit the target.

Moments later, Campbell almost opened the scoring himself after Nathaniel Ferris won possession in the final third and found him wide in the penalty area, but the winger's low effort was beaten away by an alert Lewis Ridd.

Midway through the first half, the breakthrough arrived when Charlie Lindsay failed to clear Rory Hale's free-kick and he headed the ball into the path of Ryan Curran, who made no mistake by slotting past a helpless Jacob Carney.

The visitors' lead lasted only six minutes when Campbell raced onto Niall Quinn's ball down the wing before he cut it back for Paul McGovern, who fired low past Ridd for his sixth league goal of the campaign.

Shortly after the restart, Jim Magilton's men should have put themselves in front when Brian Healy raced clear of the Lurgan Blues defence onto Shaun Leppard's long ball, but his lob over the onrushing Carney drifted the wrong side of the far post.

Michael O'Connor's men were presented with a golden chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty for Harry Wilson's foul on Campbell, but Ferris' effort down the middle was well saved by the feet of Ridd.

Glenavon were not to be denied again and went ahead just after the hour as Campbell picked out Murphy with an inswinging corner and the former Glentoran defender headed home to complete the turnaround.

The hosts made an electric start as they hit the woodwork early when Shay McCartan's long-range effort rattled the post.

However, Carrick quickly took control, with Danny Gibson opening the scoring from a well-executed set-piece that left the Portadown defence exposed.

Gibson poked home after Luke McCullough found the striker with a quickly-taken free-kick.

Adam Lecky then doubled the lead after latching onto a flick on from BJ Burns from another set-piece.

Gibson completed his first-half double with a well-worked goal, cutting inside from the left wing and placing a driven shot into the bottom-left corner.

After the break, Niall Currie made several substitutions to try and spark a response, bringing on Jack Scott, Gideon Tetteh, Adam Towe, Rayhaan Tulloch and Joshua Carson, but Portadown were unable to breach a well-organised Carrick side.

Stephen Baxter's men saw out the game to secure all three points, leaving Portadown to rue their early missed opportunity and a dominant opening half by the visitors.