Dinamo double sinks Larne in Conference League

Larne have now lost their five Conference League games

Larne's wait for a first point in the Uefa Conference League goes on after a 2-0 defeat against Dinamo Minsk at the Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium in Azerbaijan.

Aleksei Gavrilovich's emphatic penalty on 67 minutes and a second from Gleb Zherdev secured the narrow win for the Belarusians in the behind-closed-doors encounter.

Larne will be disappointed with the manner of the two goals they conceded as their best chance of picking up a historic result in the league phase of this competition passed them by.

Nathan Rooney's side remain bottom of the Conference League table with a final home game against Ghent to come next week to conclude their campaign.

Ryan goes close in end-to-end first half

Larne, who had assistant Gary Haveron in charge as Rooney does not hold a Pro License, started with a greater attacking impetus than their previous European away games.

The returning Tomas Cosgrove volleyed wide from Mark Randall's free-kick after six minutes.

At the other end, Dinamo Minsk had their first half-chance as Vadim Pigas delivered a cross from the right to Daniil Kulikov, who stooped to head straight at Rohan Ferguson.

The visitors then had a golden chance to take the lead on 12 minutes through Andy Ryan.

Mark Randall slipped the ball through to the Scottish striker, who raced through and showed great feet before attempting to square the ball to Paul O'Neill.

Roman Begunov blocked the pass, but Ryan's low drive on the follow-up forced Fedor Lapoukhov into a save.

Dinamo threatened again on 29 minutes as Pigas got to the byline and put in a dangerous delivery which just evaded the on-rushing Dmitry Podstrelov.

Soft goals in second half hurt Larne

Larne conceded in the second half through a questionable penalty and goalkeeping error

The final 15 minutes of the first half fizzled out but Larne made a bright start to the second period, with Ryan going close again.

Cian Bolger delivered the ball to Ryan at the back post and his audacious overhead kick almost caught out Lapoukhov.

The hosts began to grow into the game after the introduction of forwards Timof Milnichenko and Zherdev and they fashioned two good chances in quick succession.

Substitute Melnichenko flashed a low shot wide from outside the area before the dangerous Pigas delivered a pinpoint cross to Zherdev at the back post and he headed wide from close range.

As Larne started to sit deeper, Bolger then gave away the penalty as he was deemed to have prevented Melnichenko from connecting with another deep cross from Pigas.

Defender Gavrilovich stepped up and slammed home the resulting spot kick, with the hosts' celebration one of relief after a laboured 65 minutes before the penalty.

Things went from bad to worse for Larne as Dinamo grabbed a fortuitous second five minutes later.

Pigas picked out Zherdev at the back post, whose downward header squirmed under Ferguson and into the net.

Those goals seemed to knock the stuffing out of Larne, as they failed to muster a response.

Their misery was compounded when captain Bolger was sent off in injury time after receiving a second yellow card as Larne fell to their fifth straight defeat in the competition.

They have now had a man sent off in three of their five games and Bolger will miss the final game against Ghent at Windsor Park next Thursday.