Larne respond with stunning win over Crusaders

Lee Bonis scored two for Larne

Larne responded to last week's heavy loss at Glentoran by hammering Crusaders 4-1 to return to the top of the Irish Premiership table.

The win takes Larne a point ahead of the Glens, who have two games in hand, while the Crues drop to third.

Ballymena United beat Newry City 3-0 in Friday night's other fixture.

Michael Place, Jordan Gibson and Davy McDaid got the goals for David Jeffrey's ninth-placed side as they moved five points ahead of their opponents in 10th.

Larne went into their meeting with the Crues at Inver Park in third place, having been knocked off top spot last Friday night by a chastening 4-0 loss to Mick McDermott's Glentoran.

Their response could barely have been more emphatic as they raced into a 4-0 lead with a performance that their opponents were not able to compete with.

The Invermen got off to the best possible start in the ninth minute when man-of-the-match Bonis tapped into an open goal after summer signing Millar broke from midfield and squared the ball to the striker.

The impressive Millar doubled their lead with a confident finish after a superb break from midfield and O'Neill got his goal when he applied the finishing touch to another flowing passing move.

Record signing Bonis got his second and Larne's fourth on 35 minutes to put the game beyond the north Belfast side.

The second half lacked the intensity of the first, with Crusaders struggling for ideas going forward while the Invermen looked to have taken their foot of the gas.

Philip Lowry headed home a consolation in stoppage time after good work from Rory McKeown down the left for the midfielder to continue his goalscoring form, but it is Larne who returned to winning ways.

Gibson scores screamer in comfortable Ballymena win

At The Showgrounds, Ballymena opened the scoring on 18 minutes when Place fired his penalty hard and low into the bottom corner after Emmanuel Omrore was adjudged to have fouled Gibson inside the area.

Gibson doubled the home side's lead in style seven minutes after the break, finding the top corner with a a powerful long-range shot after collecting a clever pass from Place.

McDaid made it 3-0 on 88 minutes, side-footing into the corner past Steven Maguire after timing his run perfectly to run on to a through ball.

Declan Carville had Newry's best effort when he hit the crossbar from a corner on 39 minutes, but Darren Mullen's side have now lost three league games in a row without scoring a goal.