Benji Magee 'wonder goal' perfect tonic to illness as Larne left sitting pretty at Christmas
Benji Magee climbed out of his sick bed and on to the scoresheet with a “wonder goal” leaving Larne as Christmas league leaders and Crusaders feeling ill.
A fifth successive Premiership reverse served to increase the woes for the Crues but Larne boss Gary Haveron had plenty to cheer following a weekend which pushed his players on to fresh heights entering the end of the year.
Haveron highlighted Magee’s special strike and club commitment.
"It was a wonder goal to win the game,” Haveron told BBC Sport NI. “Benji did it last week against the Glens with a fantastic solo goal and that is what he is capable of.
"Truth be told, he shouldn't have played today, he's been sick all week and hasn't trained. But because of injuries to Conor McKendry, Mark Randall, Dylan Sloan and Andy Ryan, to name a few, Benji wanted to play and contribute and did he!
"His overall performance was really good, he drove at them and got in dangerous positions. His decision-making was good and he got the telling contribution in the game.
"It was tight at times, tighter than it needed to be, we missed a lot of chances in the game and if I am going to be critical of the boys, we should have had the game dead and buried before Crusaders had that late rally. They put a lot of ball in the box but we dealt with it really well and another pleasing clean sheet."
Crusaders assistant manager David Rainey felt frustrated at failure for any end product.
"I thought we deserved at least a draw from the game," Rainey told BBC Sport NI. "The last 30 minutes we had Larne under a lot of pressure.
"I know they got a penalty the keeper saved (off Paul O’Neill), but Musa (Dibaga) hasn't had a lot to do today, whereas they had a lot of goalmouth action where their keeper has made a lot of good saves and a few slipped past the post as well. The hunger and desire we showed today is a positive and that's what we will take from the game.”
CRUSADERS: Dibaga,Hamilton,Brooks, Dunlop, Forsythe, O’Rourke,Williamson, Bryden, Clarke, Anderson, Barr
Subs: Tuffey, Thorndike, McCart, Miskimmin, C.Beattie, M.Beattie,Harrison
LARNE: Ferguson, Ridley, Donnelly, Gallagher, O’Neill, S.Graham, Magee, McEneff, Cosgrove, Lusty, Simpson
Subs: D.Graham, O’Connor, Nolan, Moore, Austin, Harkin, Wallace
Referee: Tony Clarke