Dungannon Swifts II bounced back from last week's defeat against Cliftonville to overcome strugglers Larne Olympic 3-1 at Stangmore Park on Monday night in the Premiership Development League.
After thrashing the Invermen 5-0 the last time these two sides met in September, Chris McCann's side went ahead in this game on 20 minutes through Padraig Lynch.
They were forced to wait until the 67th minute to double their advantage with half time substitute Corey Smith getting on the scoresheet. Kenny Ximenes then added a third seven minutes from time, with Dylan Sloan pulling a goal back for Larne on 87 minutes.
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The result moves Dungannon to within a point of Glenavon in sixth place, albiet having played a game more. Larne, meanwhile, remain second from bottom having amassed just two wins all season.
Dungannon boss Chris McCann was happy to have a more settled side on Monday after weeks of chopping and changing due to the ever-increasing involvement of many of his squad with Dean Shiels' first team.
"We were delighted with the win. Playing in the Development League is difficult for us as a lot of the players have had opportunities with the first team recently, so the team has changed a lot over the past four or five weeks, and even last night we had some first team players dropping in. As a result, we've been a wee bit inconsistent the last few weeks, so we were glad to get back to winning ways," he explained.
McCann was particularly pleased with the professionalism displayed by the senior players who dropped down for some much-needed game time.
"Anytime this year any of the senior lads have come down they have been very good with the young players with their communication and experience. It's also beneficial for when some of our younger players go up to the first team, (which many have done this year), as they are familiar with the players," he added.
The manager was also full of praise for Kenny Ximenes and Padraig Lynch, two players who scored in the victory and seem destined to be the next two stars off the Dungannon conveyor belt of talent in the coming years.
"Kenny has been really really good. He and Poddy have scored I think its 23 goals for us so far this season. Last year we spoke to them both saying they haven't scored enough goals and this year they've really stepped up.
"Kenny was on the bench for the first team last week, and Poddy scored on his debut for them in the Mid Ulster Cup, so they are both going the right way, we need to keep pushing them on.
"The big focus at the club is on development as we don't have the full-time environment and big budgets to buy players that some other teams do. There are loads of players in the first team squad who have come through the system and that is the plan, we have to develop players, give them opportunities and get them in the first team," he said.
Larne U20 coach and current Carrick Rangers midfielder Andy Mitchell echoed McCann in praising the application of the senior players who featured at Stangmore.
"We had four guys in Rohan Ferguson, Albert Watson, Andy Scott and Dylan Sloan down and. yes they have been brought down to get minutes with us, but it was great getting them down for our scholars. For them to be able to learn off them is top class especially in games, when they need that bit more experience.
"It's also good for those lads personally to get that wee top up game for their fitness so it was a win win, boys got minutes under their belt and there were some good performances albeit the result wasn't what we wanted but so far this season we are chuffed to bits," he said.
Mitchell also believes that Larne's league form so far isn't reflective of the strides many young players have been making at this level, and points to the numerous young players playing in first team environments at and away from Inver Park as evidence of the progress of Larne's academy programme.
"At Larne we are fairly new to the academy setups, so we see success in the fact that a lot of our academy players are out on loan. The likes of Conall Curran is at Ballyclare Comrades and Odhran McCart is at Lisburn Distillery and then we have players such as Matty Lusty and Dylan Sloan with the first team, as well as Caolan Donnelly and Sean Brown up training with them every day.
"Our success isn't based on results if I'm totally honest. Yes, everyone likes winning games, and it breeds confidence, but our positives come from our scholarship programme, and we have a really young scholarship team both with the 20s and the 18s. Hopefully we will reap the benefits long term," he concluded
Elsewhere, league leaders Crusaders Reserves opened up a six-point gap on Linfield, with a resounding 9-1 victory over basement side Newry.
It would be the home side who would take a shock lead in the game, with Sean McCaul netting on 18 minutes.
Yet a devastating 11-minute spell before half time brought five Crusaders goals to turn the game on its head and end it as a contest. Former Watford and Crystal Palace youth prospect Aidan Steele drew the North Belfast side level on 32 minutes.
Sam Morrow put them ahead two minutes later, and they had a two-goal cushion a minute after play resumed, courtesy of summer arrival Dean Ebbe.
Talented midfielder Jay Boyd was on target on 37 minutes to make it 4-1, before Morrow added a fifth two minutes before the break to complete a ruthless first half turnaround.
Crusaders refused to ease off in the second period with both Boyd and Ebbe netting their second goals of the game soon after the restart.
Two substitutes completed the route in the latter stages of the game as McGerald Woha and Matthew Archer found the net in the last five minutes of the game to stretch Crusaders' winning run in the league to five games. Newry are still rock bottom and without a point this season.
Ballymena Reserves inflicted a third straight defeat on Linfield Swifts, who fell further behind Crusaders in the race for the title with a 2-0 loss against the Sky Blues at Midgley Park.
The away side fielded a strong line up against a youthful Swifts' team as experienced striker Paul McElroy netted in each half to secure the win.
Carrick Rangers Reserves got back to winning ways with a narrow 2-1 victory over Portadown Reserves to move level on points with seventh placed Coleraine Reserves.
Aodhan Gillen, a summer signing from Newington got them off to the perfect start when he found the net with just three minutes on the clock. Jonathan Doyle then doubled their lead on 18 minutes, with Tantale Don De Dieu pulling a goal back for the Ports in the 37th minute, but Carrick managed to hold on for the win.
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