CAMPBELL BRACE SENDS LARNE HOME

Dergview….2

Larne..........0

ACE marksman Ryan Campbell scored a splendid brace of goals to condemn league leaders Larne to their first defeat of the season at Darragh Park on Saturday.

Campbell struck just three minutes in and all but made sure of the points with a superb free kick 14 minutes from time. The win takes Richard Clarke's team to within two points of the Championship One summit and was the perfect response to a disappointing performance at Warrenpoint Town and a League Cup exit at the hands of Armagh City.

Campbell, who netted a sparkling hat-trick in Dergview's last home game against Loughgall United, took just three minutes to make his mark against the Inver Park men. Nathan Cashel played in marauding left-back Gareth Falconer and when his angled drive was parried by visiting goalkeeper Joel Madison the poacher supreme was on hand to steer home.

Buoyed by that tonic start Dergview shaded the verdict for much of the half however the table-toppers slowly but surely gained a foothold to create a couple of openings towards the end of the half. Scott Irvine got in behind the Derg rearguard but home net-minder Caolan Mulcahy was equal to the attacker's shot before the same player turned provider for Stephen O'Neill. But again the former Oxford United Stars stopper wasn't unduly troubled.

The visitors continued to strive for an equaliser but it was the home side who came closest to scoring again when Ivan Sproule lobbed an effort inches over Madison's crossbar. By now Larne had run out of ideas in their attempts to prise open a solid Dergview defence and 14 minutes from time Campbell curled a 25 yard free kick beyond the reach of Madison for his sixth goal of the season.

Next week Dergview visit joint leaders Armagh City and on Tuesday evening warm up with a game against Harry McConkey's Regions' Cup team. Kick-off 7.45pm.

The Teams

Dergview

Mulcahy, Porter, Falconer, Buchanan, Robinson, Ballard, McBride, Arkinson (McManus 75), Cashel (Edgar 70), Sproule, Campbell (Curran-Friel 88).

Subs not used: Lynch, S. Porter.

Larne

Madison, Kane (Gillan), Thompson, Rodgers, McKenna, McIlveen, Irvine (Stuart), Smith, Dorrian, O'Neill (McCabe), Maguire.

Subs not used: Arthur, McWilliams