Ryan brace helps Larne go top as Carrick beat Ballymena

Bonis scored a header in a ruthless second half display from Larne, who return to the top of the table

A superb second half showing from Larne saw them regain top spot in the Irish Premiership with a 3-0 victory against 10-man Crusaders at Seaview.

Carrick Rangers beat Ballymena United 2-0 at the Showgrounds with goals from David Cushley and Danny Purkis.

Ballymena are now without a league win in eight games.

Clinical Larne breeze past Crues

It was an end-to-end first half with both teams having good chances to break the deadlock at Seaview.

Larne had the first opportunity of the game when Bonis played the ball back into the path of Levi Ives, with Jonny Tuffey making a diving save to deny the defender's resulting strike from outside the box.

Larne stopper Rohan Ferguson also had to make good saves to keep the game scoreless at the break.

The first stop was to deny Jude Winchester's curling effort from range before he tipped Ross Clarke's shot, which looked like it was going to creep into the bottom corner, away from goal.

However, it didn't take long for Larne to open the scoring in the second half as, just two minutes after the restart, they made it 1-0.

Tomas Cosgrove's corner was nodded into the path of Ryan by the unmarked Leroy Millar, with the striker's header sailing past the outstretched Tuffey.

In the 53rd minute, Larne doubled their lead when Millar found space on the left channel, travelled forward and delivered a looping pass into the box, which was met with a powerful header by Bonis.

In a frantic couple of minutes, Paul Heatley thought he had pulled a goal back for Crusaders in the 66th minute when he netted from close range, but he was adjudged to be offside.

Less than a minute later, referee Tim Marshall awarded Larne a penalty after Cosgrove was brought down by Jarlath O'Rourke in the box.

Ryan took the resulting spot kick and made no mistake, firing into the bottom left corner while Tuffey dived to the right-hand side.

Things went from bad to worse for Crusaders on 69 minutes when BJ Burns was sent off for a second bookable offence after a late tackle on Jaziel Orozco, after he was shown earlier in the second half for dissent.

The final 20 minutes weren't as action filled with Larne happy to play the game out with Crusaders unable to react.

Carrick halt losing streak

Carrick Rangers ended a five game losing run with their hard earned win over Ballymena United.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the 28th minute from the penalty spot after Sky Blues defender Scott Whiteside was adjudged to have handled Curtis Allen's shot inside the box.

Carrick Rangers captain Cushley stepped up to send the ball down the middle of the goal past a helpless Sean O'Neill for his sixth goal of the season.

The away side should have doubled their lead in added time at the end of the first half when Purkis passed up a great chance.

He did well initially to create the opportunity for himself, getting in front of O'Neill and rounding Whiteside, but his effort lacked composure and the ball sailed over the crossbar.

Purkis forced O'Neill into a fine save midway through the second half, the Ballymena goalkeeper diving full length to his right to turn away the striker's 20-yard shot.

The home side laid siege to their opponents' goal in the closing stages and had appeals for a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area waved away after Kym Nelson went down in a tangle with Cameron Stewart.

The points were secured deep into added time when Purkis raced clear of the Ballymena defence to plant a right foot shot past O'Neill.

Carrick climb two places thanks to this win while Ballymena remain in the relegation zone.