Millar's men fall to Loughgall

LARNE fell to their second successive league defeat when they went down 3-1 at home to Loughgall on Monday.

The result is not a fair reflection of a game in which the Reds battled back from being two down at the break taking the game to last season’s champions.

A cruel own-goal then restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage and there was no way back.

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Four minutes in, Davy Larmour released Craig on the left and his cross flew past the outstretched leg of Todd. A quick free from Smith almost caught out Neeson in the home goal, who was at full stretch to save under the bar.

What could have been goal of the season came on 12 minutes when Dick crossed from the right in to the path of Carland, whose cracking volley was deflected for a corner.

With 26 minutes gone a period of pressure from the visitors led to the opening goal. Waddell jinked his way along the byeline before Moore was forced to concede a corner. The ball broke to substitute Clarke, who drilled a low shot into the net.

The lead could have been doubled moments later when Hawthorne played a great ball to Clarke, who took advantage of slack defending, forcing Neeson to block with his legs.

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There was then a mad scramble in the Larne box as a Kingsberry corner found Alderdice, who saw his header rebound off the underside of the bar before being cleared, with the defender claiming it had crossed the line.

The last action of the half saw Loughgall double their lead with question marks again over the defending. With a defensive wall in place, it was all too easy for Smith to curl his shot past it and out of Neeson’s reach.

Larne had the ball in the net on 53 minutes but Davy Larmour’s effort was ruled out for offside. The Reds had better luck two minutes later when they reduced the deficit thanks to Peden’s own goal.

This was no more than Larne deserved at this stage as they battled for every ball. Twice within a minute they went close to levelling. Firstly Davy Larmour fired a Craig pass the wrong side of the upright, then Carland headed a Higgin’s corner inches wide.

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With 15 minutes remaining a short back pass from Glen Larmour left Neeson exposed, but he did well to block Neeson’s shot.

The home side were then hit with a sucker punch as they continued to press forward. Waddell picked up a throw-in from the left and his attempted cross took a cruel defelection off More past the stranded Neeson.

Next up for Larne is another home game on Saturday, when Wakehurst provide the opposition in the CIS Cup, with a 3pm kick off.

LARNE: Neeson, Moore, G.Larmour, Pollard, Carland, Reid, Todd, White, Craig, D.Larmour, Dick. Subs: McLean, Higgins (Todd), McDonald, McNally, Thompson (Larmour).

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l On Saturday Larne edged into the next round of the Paddy Power Steel & Sons Cup with a narrow 1-0 over Donard Hospital. It was far from a classic with Mark Craig’s winner coming ten minutes into the second half.

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