CRUES TOO STRONG FOR CARRICK
Three second half goals saw Crusaders sweep to victory over Carrick Rangers at Seaview.
A quiet first half, David Cushley perhaps came closest to breaking the deadlock with an effort from distance midway through only for Jonny Tuffey to keep the ball out as it curled towards the top corner.
Jordan Forsythe came close not long after the break with a shot just wide of the left post but, on 66 minutes, the Crues did find a way through when Jordan Owens found Philip Lowry who in turn laid the ball off for Ross Clarke to fire home from close range.
The visitors might have levelled through Nedas Maciulaitis in the bottom left corner after he got on the end of a free-kick but was denied by a Tuffey save.
Crusaders doubled their advantage with ten minutes left courtesy of an Owens header from a Clarke cross.
Then, in the closing minutes, Ross Glendinning tipped a Lowry effort onto the woodwork and then kept out Clarke's follow up. Paul Heatley then had a go, but this was cleared off the line only to take a deflection off Declan Caddell and into the net.
Crusaders: Tuffey, Burns, Hegarty, Lowry, Lecky, Forsythe, Winchester, Larmour, Heatley, McKeown, Clarke subs Murphy, Weir, Ebbe, Caddell, Stewart, Owens, Thompson
Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Surgenor, Ervin, Cushley, Mitchell, Gawne, Cherry, Reece Glendinning, Maciulaitis, Tilney, Anderson subs Hogg, Stewart, Kalla, Buchanan-Rolleston, Nixon, Dupree, Graham
Substitution 
Substitution 
