A LAST minute goal from Matty Lusty earned Larne a huge Conference League win away to FC Ballkani in Kosovo on Thursday night.
Tiernan Lynch’s men had already put in a disciplined performance before Lusty came off the bench at the Fadil Vokrri stadium to poke home the winner in the 89th minute, tto give Larne a 1-0 lead coming back to Inver Park next Thursday in the second leg of this third round tie.
The opening exchanges were relatively quiet, with Larne settling on a shape which the home side found hard to break down.
Boss Tiernan Lynch had reverted back to a 3-5-2 formation which has worked so well for them during their back-to-back Premiership titles.
Despite soaking up pressure, the Invermen looked reasonably lively on the break and Andy Ryan fired a warning shot on 24 minutes.
The Scotsman drove into the box from the left flank and fizzed a dangerous cross across face of goal.
However, Ballkani continued to see plenty of the ball, with Algerian winger Walid Hamidi looking dangerous down the right flank and, like Ryan, cross a dangerous ball into the box two minutes later which Larne did well to clear.
The best opportunity arrived 33 minutes into the game when Rohan Ferguson was called into action.
After a challenge from Cian Bolger just outside the box the ball broke to Bernard Karrica and his low effort forced a great save from Rohan Ferguson, to turn it wide of the post.
The same forward had a good chance late in the half but ended up heading well wide with Larne defenders looking for an offside flag after a cross from the left.
Larne boss Lynch made a switch at half-time with Joe Thomson coming on for Mark Randall and the second half began in encouraging fashion for the visitors.
Lee Bonis broke into space and let fly with a low drive from 25 yards out which was well held by home goalkeeper Enea Kolici.
Despite a strong start to the half Ballkani came close with two quickfire efforts on 55 minutes, with Arber Potoku forcing a save from Ferguson, before Lindon Emerllahu drove the rebound wide from outside the box.
The game then settled into a similar pattern to the first half with the home side seeing the majority of possession without calling Rohan Ferguson into action too often.
In the final 10 minutes, Lynch introduced Matty Lusty from the bench and what an inspired switch it proved to be.
With a minute left of normal time Levi Ives swung a dangerous free-kick in from the left which was flicked on by Lee Bonis – who put in a serious shift all night – and Lusty was on hand to sweep home from inside the six yard box.
Ballkani: Kolici, Halili (’22 Smajli), Jashanica, Thaqi, Queven, Hamidi, Emerllahu, Ismajlgeci (’64 Tolaj), Potoku, Karrica (74 Giovanni), Kryeziu
Subs: Miftari, Ljuljanovic, Sinani, Haltijaha, Engell, Dulaj, Kodra, Abedini
Larne: Ferguson, S Graham (’81 Want), Cosgrove, Bolger, Ives, Randall (’46 Thomson), Gallagher, Sloan, Ryan (’81 Lusty), Bonis
Subs: D Graham, Brown, Altintop, Devlin, Smith, O’Neill, McKendry
Referee: Jakob Sundberg (Denmark)
