Tiernan Lynch expecting plenty of 'twists and turns' in Premiership title race as Larne keep pressure on Linfield with victory against Crusaders

A superb Joe Thomson strike from distance on the stroke of half-time handed the reigning champions their lead before great link-up play between Andy Ryan and Levi Ives helped lay the ball on a plate for Leroy Millar to tap home late on to secure all three points.

The race for Premiership glory is shaping up to be an exciting one with the Inver Reds only losing one of their 25 league fixtures to date, David Healy’s Blues have won in 19 of their 24 outings and Cliftonville have put together an unbeaten run of eight matches to remain firmly in the picture.

"It's still very early in the title race in my opinion and I still think there will be lots of twists and turns,” Lynch told the club’s media channel. “There's no doubt people are talking about the first one to blink and all the usual malarkey that's talked, but we just have to keep doing what we're doing, keep enjoying our football, keep working hard at getting better and see where it takes us."

Having defeated Crusaders 3-0 at the same venue last month, Lynch was expecting a response from Stephen Baxter’s side and praised his players for embracing the fight to keep their winning momentum rolling.

"We earned our money's worth tonight no doubt,” he added. “The positives are a 2-0 win and clean sheet.

"We probably had to show a different side of our game tonight - it certainly wasn't the free-flowing football that we like to play and it certainly wasn't the game plan we had set coming into the game.

"It's great credit to them for rolling their sleeves up and tonight was a grind and a fight. They stood up to that fight. We would have been naive if we thought we were going to get the same thing that we got the last time and that Crusaders were going to stand off us, let us play and pass the ball around. That was never going to happen.

"There was also probably that wounded animal in them that had that point to prove and they certainly did that. We got our goals at good times and took them really well.

"It certainly wasn't what we intended to come into the game with, but I told the boys after that sometimes shows a good side of you that when it's not going well that you can roll your sleeves up, and we did that."

Larne have been linked with a number of players in the January transfer window, including Cliftonville midfielder Chris Gallagher, as they look to bolster their squad ahead of a busy run-in.

Goalkeeper Aidan McAdams is their only arrival of the month so far, but Lynch admits there are talks ongoing with other targets.

"I don't honestly know,” he said when asked if there will be any new squad members before next Saturday’s trip to Dungannon Swifts. “I won't tell lies and say there's nothing going on - there are definitely conversations and negotiations going on in the background. We'll see where it takes us."