Co Antrim Shield: Holders Larne edge out Linfield as substitute Joe Thomson nets winner at Windsor Park

Larne have made the trophy their own for the past three years and are again through to the quarter-finals, thanks to a second half goal from substitute Joe Thomson.

It wasn’t a game that will live long in the memory, although both sides put in an enormous amount of effort and commitment.

In the end, it took a little bit of class from that man Thomson to win it.

Both teams were unrecognisable from their previous fixtures with respective wins over Coleraine and Newry City.

Linfield boss David Healy handed new signing Euan East a debut – he was one of nine changes to the team. Only Daniel Finlayson and Michael Newberry remained from the win at the Showgrounds.

Tiernan Lynch also blooded two recent signings in the form of Kieran Lloyd and Sean Graham. Shaun Want and Daniel Kearns also came into the team.

Linfield asked the first question of their opponents after only five minutes when Matthew Fitzpatrick sent Josh Archer down the right and, when he cut the ball back, defender Ryan McKay just couldn’t make any tangible contact.

Following a tedious bout of sparring, it was 20 minutes before Larne imposed themselves at the other end when Levi Ives picked out the long-striding Paul O’Neill, whose shot ricocheted off Finlayson and finished in the arms of goalkeeper David Walsh.

The Blues quickly switched to the other end with Newberry’s brilliant 40-yard pass sending Max Haygarth free on the right. After cutting inside defender Aaron Donnelly, he tested Rohan Ferguson with a low shot that the keeper did well to save.

As the half-time clock ticked down, Newberry was out of luck when he met a Haygarth corner kick from the right, but could only direct his header wide.

Within seconds Larne responded, Lloyd getting a decent connection with a shot on the edge of the box, but it failed to trouble Walsh.

Linfield missed a great chance five minutes after the restart. Substitute Aodhan Doherty whipped in a corner from the right that looked destined for the head of East, but somehow the big defender failed to make contact.

Seconds later Darragh McBrine fired in a low shot that had Ferguson at full stretch, but the ball fizzed inches wide.

The fans were howling for a penalty kick just before the hour when Doherty went down under a challenge from Ives inside the box, but referee Tony Clarke wasn’t impressed.

It was the visitors who broke the deadlock with 21 minutes remaining. O’Neill managed to spring the Linfield backline who were looking for an offside flag following a wonder pass from Jaziel Orozco and, when he rolled the ball across the box, Thomson was there to slide home.

Substitute Leroy Millar almost put the icing in the cake in the final minute, but his goal-bound shot was superbly saved at the base of the post by Walsh.