A youthful Larne side beat Crumlin United 4-1 at Inver Park tonight with young forward Jack Hastings grabbing two goals.
The side was a mix of first-team players, academy players and a number of trialists but despite their lack of experience together, the team proved too strong for their opponents.
A quiet opening fifteen minutes to the game saw Larne dominate the early stages with a lot of our good play coming from a trialist playing at right wing-back, but a final touch was lacking in the penalty area.
With 21 minutes played Jack Hastings opened the scoring. The youngster was played in behind the Crumlin defence before taking a touch inside and brilliantly curling his effort past the goalkeeper at the far post.
Just three minutes later we doubled our lead when Corey Smith’s corner found Ali Omar free at the near post, the towering centre-back made a strong connection with the ball before picking out the top corner.
On the half-hour mark, Hastings had the ball in the back of the net for a second time of the night after being played through on goal but it was disallowed for an offside in the build-up.
Just before half-time, there was time for a third Larne goal. Levi Ives found himself with plenty of space out left before firing in a low cross into the penalty area where he picked out Hastings. The young forward took the chance on first time, and it was too much for the goalkeeper as it crept in at the front post.
HALF-TIME
Minutes into the second half, a defensive mistake from the Invermen was capitalised on by an opposing forward to grab a goal back for Crumlin. The forward found himself through one versus one with our trialist goalkeeper and remained composed to pick out the far corner.
A quick response saw the Inver Reds create a couple of chances in succession with a trialist sending his first-time effort just wide at the near post before Jack Hastings hit the side netting with his subsequent effort.
With 65 minutes gone, we saw our penalty appeals dismissed as a trialist’s cross seemingly struck a raised arm from a defender, but the referee immediately waved play on.
Six minutes later a long ball over the top of the Crumlin defence founds Hastings. However, before the forward could get a shot off he was dispossessed but the ball somehow made its way into the goal as a mis-hit clearance from a defender flew past his own goalkeeper.
A quiet end to the game saw our youthful side maintain their lead and run out 4-1 winners against our NAFL Premier League opposition.
