Irish Premiership: Crusaders 2-0 Linfield

Two headers by Jordan Owens gave Crusaders a deserved victory at Seaview to leave Linfield languishing in the bottom two of the Irish Premiership.

The big Crues striker stooped to head in at the far post from Chris Morrow's cross for his first on 36 minutes.

Crusaders were well worth their lead against a lacklustre Linfield and it was no surprise when they went 2-0 up.

Morrow was the supplier again with a corner form the left and Owens rose to beat Blues keeper Jonathan Tuffey.

It gave Stephen Baxter's men their first points of the campaign after two opening defeats but Linfield, seeking to regain the Premiership title, find themselves with just one point from their first three games.

They received an early setback at Seaview when midfielder Jamie Mulgrew had to go off injured, but more worrying for boss David Jeffrey was their ability to match the hunger of Crusaders.

Owens should have scored early on when Gary McCutcheon played a nice chip into the penalty area but the finishing header was not strong enough to beat Tuffey.

Peter Thompson then almost got through for Linfield but home defender David Magowan cut off the striker's charge to goal with a timely challenge.

Owens then made the breakthrough with his header at the Shore Road end to send the Crues in 1-0 up.

The anticipated Linfield reaction after half-time failed to materialise and it was Owens who struck again in the 67th minute to double the Crues' lead.

It was almost 3-0 as former Linfield player Nathan Hanley, just on as a substitute, struck the bar with what looked like an intended cross.

So, a relief for Crues manager Baxter to see his side get off the mark in the league.

"We were rock solid at the back and restricted Linfield to very little," he said afterwards.

"We worked incredibly hard up front to create the openings and thankfully we got scored a couple.

"I told the lads not to panic because I knew if they kept on playing their natural game the result would come."