Larne gained some ground on Irish Premiership pacesetters Coleraine with a scrappy 1-0 win over Portadown at Inver Park.

In a game of few chances, Larne thought they had been awarded a second-half penalty when referee Louise Thompson initially pointed to the penalty spot before overturning her decision.

Substitute Kevin O'Hara then scored with eight minutes left as Larne ended a sequence of three home games without a win.

The victory sees the Inver side close the deficit to Coleraine to nine points with two games in hand, while Portadown remain in 11th position.

It was a fast start at Inver Park, where a Chris Gallagher shot was blocked by the alert Matty Carson while a Matt Ridley header from a corner was held by Aaron McCarey.

Referee Thompson was called into action early on following a late challenge by Gary Thompson on James Simpson, which sparked a melee between players on both sides.

Once order was restored, the official showed yellow cards to Thompson and team-mate Baris Altintop, along with Larne's Conor McKendry.

McKendry came close to opening the scoring soon afterwards, but his first-time shot from Aaron Donnelly's pass narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Thompson then had to leave the field after falling awkwardly following an aerial challenge, which prompted players from both teams to call for urgent medical attention before the Portadown player was able to walk off with assistance.

Larne again threatened eight minutes before the interval when McKendry's shot deflected off the foot of Altintop and clipped the outside of the post on it's way past.

They almost found the opener on 63 minutes when Ridley met Tomas Cosgrove's corner with a downward header, but Portadown full-back Lee Chapman was ideally placed to hack the ball off the goal-line.

There was huge controversy on four minutes later when Lusty went down in the penalty area between Mackinnon and Altintop, with referee Thompson initially pointing to the penalty spot.

However, with Larne skipper Cosgrove about to place the ball on the spot, the official overturned her initial decision and instead awarded a free-kick to Portadown before cautioning Lusty.

The deadlock was eventually broken with eight minutes left when two of Larne's replacements combined with Mark Randall cutting the ball back from the bye-line for O'Hara to nod home from close range.

Larne boss Gary Haveron: "We were knocking on the door and had them penned in, especially in the second half. They defended admirably but we got there in the end with the goal.

"I'm delighted for Kevin (O'Hara) because it has been a bit stop-start for him in the league. He got sent off at Portadown and it took about eight weeks to serve that suspension because of international breaks and everything else and he has grabbed his moment with both hands.

"The referee has given the penalty. It seemed to take forever, we're waiting to take the penalty and then out of the blue, she changes her mind. It was a strange decision.

"We need to find ways of winning games of football when we're well on top. We can't keep missing big, big chances so I'm glad we got over the line tonight."

Portadown manager David Jeffrey: "It was very similar to last Friday when we played Linfield and were beaten by the odd goal.

"It was gut-wrenching because the players could not have given me or the club anything more tonight. They worked tirelessly, they were courageous and we contributed going forward.

"Our thoughts immediately go to our skipper Gary Thompson who is currently at hospital after an awful accident where he landed dreadfully. Everything goes into insignificance after an injury like that. Please God it isn't too serious because it was awful to watch.

"I have to commend the officials because there was a penalty awarded which was never a penalty The officials took time to consider and discuss and work as team as they should do so well done to them for getting that right."