Linfield took full advantage of Coleraine not playing midweek to move eight points clear of their nearest challengers, goals from Joel Cooper and Shayne Lavery helped the Blues see off Dungannon at Windsor Park on Tuesday night.
Larne got their second win on the bounce midweek as Andy Mitchell, John Heron and Conor McKendry helped them to victory on the road to Carrick, Caolan Loughran replied from the penalty spot for the hosts.
Gary Hamilton’s Glenavon side came from behind to beat Glentoran in their game at Mourneview Park, Ruaidhrí Donnelly put Mick McDermott’s side ahead in the first half but Robbert Garrett and Matthew Fitzpatrick scored in the last 20 minutes to turn the game on its head.
Finally, at Milltown all the goals were scored in the first half between Warrenpoint and Ballymena as Joe McCready put United into an early lead but Adam Carroll scored the equaliser for the home side not long before half-time.
Here is the full Danske Bank Premiership table as it stands: –
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Linfield | 25 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 63 | 25 | 38 | 54 |
| 2 | Coleraine | 23 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 22 | 15 | 46 |
| 3 | Larne | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 40 | 24 | 16 | 43 |
| 4 | Glentoran | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 39 | 20 | 19 | 39 |
| 5 | Crusaders | 24 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 43 | 30 | 13 | 39 |
| 6 | Cliftonville | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 36 | 29 | 7 | 39 |
| 7 | Ballymena United | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 33 | 26 | 7 | 35 |
| 8 | Glenavon | 23 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 36 | 38 | -2 | 34 |
| 9 | Warrenpoint Town | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 23 | 40 | -17 | 24 |
| 10 | Portadown | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 25 | 47 | -22 | 15 |
| 11 | Carrick Rangers | 23 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 58 | -38 | 13 |
| 12 | Dungannon Swifts | 23 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 14 | 50 | -36 | 12 |
This weekend’s fixture list gets started tonight with Crusaders welcoming their cross-city rivals, Linfield, to Seaview in a game being streamed on BBC iPlayer.
Normally, Crusaders and Linfield are competing to bring the league title to their respective homes but if the Crues lose tonight they could find themselves as low as 6th place by the end of the weekend and possibly only a point clear of Ballymena in 7th. Defeat would also leave Stephen Baxter’s side 18 points off top spot.
Here is the full fixture list for the weekend, with all games kicking off at 15:00 unless otherwise stated: –
Crusaders v Linfield (Friday 19th March 2021 at 19:45 – streamed live on BBC iPlayer)
Coleraine v Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts v Portadown
Glentoran v Glenavon
Larne v Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town v Ballymena United (Saturday 20th March 2021 at 17:30 – streamed live on BBC iPlayer)
In our writer’s prediction league Rodney has managed to keep his place in top spot as he seeks a League of Ireland/Danske Bank Premiership double, he managed to pick up seven points on Tuesday night after correctly predicting a 3-1 Larne win and 1-1 draw between Warrenpoint and Ballymena, as well as a Linfield win over Dungannon.
Richard did correctly predict the outcomes in all four of Tuesday night’s games but not the correct results so had to make do with four points, in the meantime Cameron, Adrian and Darren all scored two points each.
Up first this week is Adrian and as usual it is three points for a correct result and a point for a correct outcome.
Adrian
Crusaders 1-1 Linfield
Coleraine 4-1 Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Portadown
Glentoran 1-1 Glenavon
Larne 2-0 Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town 1-2 Ballymena United
Darren
Crusaders 0-0 Linfield
Coleraine 3-0 Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Portadown
Glentoran 2-0 Glenavon
Larne 1-1 Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town 1-1 Ballymena United
Cameron
Crusaders 0-1 Linfield
Coleraine 3-0 Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts 2-1 Portadown
Glentoran 2-1 Glenavon
Larne 2-1 Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town 0-2 Ballymena United
Rodney
Crusaders 1-2 Linfield
Coleraine 3-0 Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts 2-1 Portadown
Glentoran 3-1 Glenavon
Larne 2-1 Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town 2-1 Ballymena United
Richard
Crusaders 0-2 Linfield
Coleraine 2-0 Carrick Rangers
Dungannon Swifts 2-0 Portadown
Glentoran 3-0 Glenavon
Larne 3-0 Cliftonville
Warrenpoint Town 3-0 Ballymena United
Here is the current leaderboard: –
| 1. Rodney | 108 |
| 2. Cameron | 95 |
| 3. Adrian | 75 |
| 4: Richard | 72 |
| 5. Darren | 68 |
