Dylan Sloan's goal joy to cap contract boost for Larne ace on 'whirlwind journey'

The 20-year-old made it two goals in as many games for the Inver Park outfit by finding the net in a 2-0 home success to follow on from his midweek goal against Crusaders.

"Tuesday was my first goal in about a year or so and now I've scored again so that will get my confidence up," Sloan told BBC Sport NI. "Performance-wise, I thought we did well in some ways and we had to dig deep.

"Cliftonville had decent possession during the game, but I thought we controlled it off the ball as well so hopefully we can kick on from here."

Larne, back-to-back winners of the Irish League senior crown, moved up to fifth in the top-flight table before Saturday’s fixtures as they continue to adjust to a Premiership backlog of games due to European commitments.

"We've been lacking quality at times the last couple of months but we have scored five in the month of January so far so we will just have to take that onto the next game,” said Sloan. "We have a lot of games in hand and we have to realistically go into those and win all of them if we want to win the league for the third time in a row.

"Linfield are well ahead so we still have a lot to do but hopefully we can catch them."

Sloan arrived at Larne as a 16-year-old on the Scholarship Programme.

“I’m so happy to become the latest player within the group to commit my future to the club and look forward to continuing what has been a whirlwind journey for me during my time at Inver,” said Sloan on the official Larne website following confirmation of his contract extension. “When I joined at the age of 16, I had big ambitions to make it into professional football and I’ve achieved that alongside making so many unbelievable memories in terms of winning trophies and playing in Europe – but I still feel that I’m only getting started and have so much more to achieve within the game, and I want that to be with Larne so I’m delighted to extend.”