Northern Ireland round-up: Top two toppled

Portadown FC failed to take advantage of Irish League Premier Division leaders Glentoran FC's shock slip-up tonight.

Surprise losses
Portadown lost their second consecutive match, going down 1-0 at Coleraine FC to follow Saturday's 3-2 defeat away at Linfield FC. However, that was nowhere near as big a surprise as Glentoran's 1-0 home defeat by lowly Crusaders FC, who recorded back-to-back league wins for the first time this season. More than that, this was their first domestic defeat by any club other than Portadown, who have beaten them twice in the league, and Glentoran's first loss in 12 matches.

Arthur wins it
Gavin Arthur did the damage for Crusaders at the Oval with a free-kick just after the half-hour mark. His effort from 30 metres bounced in front of goalkeeper Elliott Morris and went in off the post. The hosts pressed hard in the second half but fine saves from Crusaders goalkeeper John Connolly kept out efforts from Darren Armour, Scott Young, and Paul Leeman while Gary Smyth saw a last-gasp free-kick hit the post.

Gorman the hero
Portadown stayed six points behind after their reverse at Coleraine. Again the decisive goal came after 30 minutes from a free kick. It was former Linfield midfielder Tony Gorman who scored with a trademark effort from distance after Pat McAllister had been fouled by Dean Fitzgerald.

Matches off
Two more re-arranged Premier Division games were called off yesterday afternoon due to waterlogged pitches. These were Ards FC versus Linfield and Omagh Town FC versus Glenavon FC.