Larne suffer double red in draw on the road at Carrick

The visitors had two men sent off in a bad-tempered affair - Cian Bolger went early in the first half for striking Steven Gordon before substitute Andy Scott got his marching orders following a coming together with Ben Tilney with five minutes to go.

In between times, Matty Carson had given the hosts the lead inside 15 minutes before Lee Lynch levelled things up seven minutes before half-time.

The second half was a poor affair littered with stoppages as neither side really looked like grabbing a winner.

Both sides had ironically faced Glenavon in their last league outings.

Larne had drawn their clash with the Lurgan Blues a fortnight ago, whereas Carrick had gone down 2-0 at Mourneview Park last Saturday.

Boss Stuart King was less than happy with his side’s performance and warned them in the build-up to this game that they needed to pick up a result...and quickly.

But the hosts almost suffered a nightmare start as Lee Bonis nicked the ball past Aaron Hogg from Gordon’s weak back header, but the striker’s finish from a tight angle was screwed wide.

Carrick responded with former Larne player Tilney drilling a low ball across the face of goal, which was just begging for someone to fire home but no-one anticipated the cross.

The visitors were dealt a huge blow on nine minutes as they were reduced to 10 men.

From an attacking corner Bolger lashed out at Gordon, felling him.

And referee Raymond Crangle was left with no option but to brandish a red card to the Larne man, with Gordon also forced to leave the action due to injury.

Their night was to go from bad to worse though as they fell behind on 14 minutes.

Tilney’s long throw was flicked on by Emmett McGuckin into the path of Carson, who fired a delightful left-foot finish past Conor Devlin.

To their credit, Larne regrouped and were having the better of the possession.

But Carrick were posing a threat on the break with Tilney firing one into the midriff of Devlin.

The keeper was called into action again 10 minutes before the break as Carson curled a delightful free kick towards goal, but Devlin did well to get across and palm the ball away.

And those saves proved vital as Larne drew themselves level on 38 minutes.

Graham Kelly won the ball off David Cushley in midfield before slipping in Lynch, who fired a low shot across Hogg and into the far corner of the net.

The start of the second half was a quieter affair, but Carrick did lose another player to injury as Tom Scully was stretchered off following a challenge with Bonis.

Chances were few and far between with defences on top.

With 20 minutes to go McGuckin did manage to lose his marker from a Carson free-kick, but the big striker lashed his volley wide of the target.

Minutes later, Cushley fired narrowly wide of the goal after a poor clearance from the visitors.

The skipper should have done better with a header on 77 minutes as the hosts started to crank up the pressure on the 10 men.

Tempers continued to boil over though as McGuckin and Fuad Sule ended up in the net before a corner and then Jim Ervin and Mark Randall were both booked for another incident.

But that didn’t calm things down as Scott received his marching orders after lashing out at Tilney with five minutes to go.

There was one last chance for the hosts as Mark Surgenor looped a header on to the roof of the net deep into stoppage time.

Carrick Rangers: Hogg, Ervin, Gordon (Surgenor, 13), Cushley, McGuckin, Cherry (Nixon, 64), Glendinning, Carson, Scully (McMullan, 72), Tilney, Anderson.

Subs (not used): Skeet, E.Kelly, Chambers, Waite.

Larne: Devlin, Balmer, Kelly, Sule, Hale (McDaid, 75), Doherty, Lynch (Scott, 81), Mitchell (Randall, 75), Bolger, Bonis, Hughes (Watson, 75).

Subs (not used): Ferguson, Nasseri, Lusty.

Referee: Raymond Crangle.

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