Many congratulations to Shaun Want and everyone at Larne FC on a historic night in the clubs history which resulted in qualification for the UEFA Conference League phase. Larne overcame Lincoln Red Imps over two legs to book their place in Europe for the first time at a packed out Inver Park.
Kike Gomez’s double in Portugal ruled out Matthew Lusty’s opener in the first leg and left the Northern Irish side with plenty of work to do heading back home. However with a sold out Inver Park and with the country behind them the hosts strolled to a comfortable victory in the second leg and cruised into the league phase of the competition. Bernardo Lopes opened the scoring on the night for Lincoln to dampen the mood for the hosts but Andy Ryan proved to be the hero after all, netting a hattrick to put Larne through by a goal difference on aggregate.
Defender Shaun Want marked his return for the reds in the previous qualifying round at FC Ballkani after a tough year out through injury and started both playoff matches at the centre of the Larne backline.
Larne now enter the competition next month in the league phase for the first time in the clubs history with some exciting European ties ahead. Congratulations to Shaun and all at Larne FC.
