Andy Ryan double helps Larne back into top spot with win at 10-man Crusaders
Crusaders 0 Larne 3
Andy Ryan scored twice against Crusaders to fire Larne top of the table
Andy Ryan and Tomas Cosgrove
Deadly Andy Ryan bagged a delicious double against Crusaders at Seaview on Friday night to torpedo Larne back to the top of the Sports Direct Premiership table.
The reigning champions were simply too slick, cute and streetwise for their opponents, who had skipper Billy Joe Burns dismissed with 21 minutes left.
It may have taken them until the second half carve open the home team, but a five-minute double whammy did the trick. Ryan was joined on the scoresheet by his strike partner Lee Bonis.
The result helped maintain Larne’s excellent run of League form, having lost only once so far – that was way back on September 26 when Premiership’s new boys Loughgall shocked the champions.
With the points in the bag, it’s now over to David Healy’s Blues, who face a difficult outing against Glenavon at Mourneview Park on Saturday.
The Crues have now won only once at the home base since October 13 when they defeated Ballymena United – hardly the form of a team with title aspirations.
Manager Stephen Baxter made four changes to the Crues team that were held by Newry City last time out, with Robbie Weir, Adam Lecky, Ross Clarke and Lloyd Anderson drafted into the starting 11.
Lynch has an embarrassment of riches in terms of his squad so, even though they thumped Glenavon last week, the manager still tweaked things, handing starting slots to Craig Farquhar and Joe Thomson.
Unfortunately, because of the 48-hour public transport strike, the crowd for such an important game was affected.
It was the visitors who had the first sniff at goal after only four minutes. Bonis cut the ball across the edge of the box which found
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