ALL SQUARE IN EAST ANTRIM
Carrick Rangers and Larne played out a 1-1 draw in the East Antrim derby at the Loughview Leisure Arena, a game which saw the visitors end with nine men.
Larne almost went in front during the opening seconds when Lee Bonis beat Aaron Hogg to the ball, lifting it over the keeper only to fail to keep control to make the most of the opportunity.
The explosive start continued when Larne's Cian Bolger was dismissed on nine minutes for a challenge on Steven Gordon, and Carrick capitalised on their numerical advantage five minutes after that through Matthew Carson who rifled a low strike past Conor Devlin into the bottom corner.
Larne levelled on 38 minutes, however, when Lee Lynch received the ball from Graham Kelly out on the right to beat Hogg with a low ball from 16 yards in the bottom left.
The second half got off to a quiet start with little created in front of goal until, on 70 minutes, Emmett McGuckin might have edged Carrick back in front only to volley the ball wide at the back post while, soon after, David Cushley send the ball just the wrong side of the top corner.
Larne ended the game with nine men when, with five minutes to go, Andy Scott was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Ben Tilney.
And Carrick had one last chance to secure victory when, deep into stoppage time, Mark Surgenor headed narrowly over from Reece Glendinning's delivery.
Carrick Rangers: Hogg, Ervin, Gordon, Cushley, McGuckin, Cherry, Glendinning, Carson, Scully, Tilney, Anderson subs Skeet, Surgenor, McMullan, E. Kelly, Nixon, Chambers, Waite
Larne: Devlin, Balmer, Kelly, Sule, Hale, Doherty, Lynch, Mitchell, Bolger, Bonis, Hughes subs Ferguson, Watson, Nasseri, Randall, McDaid, Scott, Lusty
