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Linfield recorded their first victory over Larne at Inver Park since November 2007 with this 1-0 win in the televised Friday night game. Peter Thompson, Glenn Ferguson and Thomas Stewart were the scorers in that 5-1 victory back in 2007 but 14 years on, it was Chris Shields whose 30th minute penalty separated the sides.

David Healy made 3 changes to the side that shared the spoils with Warrenpoint Town at Windsor Park last Saturday. Ross Larkin, Kirk Millar and Martin Donnelly made way for Michael Newberry, Chris Shields and Trai Hume.

It was a nervy enough start for the visiting Blues, in their changed black jerseys. After less than a minute, David McDaid's speculative effort from distance bounced in front of Chris Johns who spilled the ball before it was hacked clear by Matthew Clarke under pressure. On 8 minutes, Ben Doherty swept over from 25 yards after being picked out by Mark Randall.

Larne were very close to going in front on 13 minutes. The impressive Tomas Cosgrove picked out Ronan Hale inside the area with a low cross, and the striker's low shot was palmed out by Chris Johns and fortunately, back into the keeper's hands having ricocheted off Matthew Clarke.

Christy Manzinga curled a lovely right footed effort just wide of the top right hand corner on 14 minutes as the Blues to looked to settle into the game following their slow start. Then, on 17 minutes, Kyle McClean's free kick just evaded Michael Newberry who was coming in at the back post.

The game sprung into life on 28 minutes when Christy Manzinga, who was proving to be a constant headache for the Larne backline with his runs in behind, was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Kofi Balmer. The former Ballymena man was shown a straight red card for the tackle and to compound his misery, referee Ray Crangle pointed to the penalty spot, deeming the challenge to be just inside the box. Up stepped Chris Shields whose penalty nestled nicely into the bottom right hand corner despite Rohan Ferguson guessing correctly with his dive.

It should have been 2 nil on 35 minutes. Christy Manzinga, who was ultimately awarded BBC's Man of the Match, did brilliantly on the right hand side before slipping the ball through to Stephen Fallon. The Linfield midfielder's shot under pressure from 6 yards despairingly crashed off the underside of the crossbar before being cleared to safety.

Larne, looking to get back into the game following the setbacks of the goal and penalty, almost nicked an equaliser on 40 minutes when Ronan Hale did brilliantly only to see his shot across goal go out for a goal kick.

Half Time: Larne 0 - 1 Linfield Ahmed Salam almost doubled Linfield's lead on 55 minutes. Following a great cross by Christy Manzinga on the right, he rifled a left footed volley which looked destined for the back of the net, only for the ball to be blocked by some heroic Larne defending. Three minutes later, Trai Hume watched as his deflected effort was easily gathered by Rohan Ferguson.

Former Linfield defender Albert Watson headed narrowly wide on 69 minutes as Tiernan Lynch's side looked to grab an equaliser.

Even though the Inver men applied some late pressure, it was Linfield who had the best chance of the closing stages when Christy Manzinga broke forward before feeding Kyle McClean in the penalty area, but the midfielder's low shot was saved by the feet of Ferguson. That was the last meaningful action of a close encounter.

This win moves Linfield to the summit of the Premiership table over Glentoran on goal difference. Next up for David Healy's side is a home match this Tuesday evening (21st December) against David Jeffrey's Ballymena United, kick off 1945h.

Full Time: Larne 0 - 1 Linfield

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1. David Healy : To come here, put on the performance, more importantly get the three points, is a credit to the players