Irish Premiership: Glentoran 0-3 Crusaders

Rodney Brown headed his first two goals for Crusaders as they beat Glentoran in Monday night's Irish Premiership match at the Oval.

Striker Jordan Owens nodded the third goal for a result which moves the Crues up to third place on goal difference.

Full-back Brown, who joined Crusaders in December 2016, got the opener in the 11th minute after a quick corner move.

He headed in again early in the second half with Owens making it 3-0 in the 55th minute.

Crusaders had started the night in fourth, but the margin of their victory sees them overtake Glenavon.

They were on top for most of the first half against Gary Haveron's fifth-placed Glens and will feel they should have had more than the one-goal advantage at the interval.

After having an early effort ruled out for offside, Stephen Baxter's boys edged in front.

Brown's goals were his first since joining Crusaders from Coleraine in December 2016

From a quick corner move, Paul Heatley delivered from the left and former Coleraine and Linfield player Brown stole in to head the opener from just a few yards out.

Crusaders midfielder Gavin Whyte then saw his brilliantly-struck effort from well outside the penalty area come off the crossbar, while Billy Joe Burns then tested Glens keeper Elliott Morris with a strong shot.

The second goal came in the 48th minute, Michael Carvill curling in a cross for Brown to direct his accurate header past Morris and inside the upright.

Crusaders' all-time leading scorer Owens made it 3-0, heading in at the far post after a superb run and cross from the left by Burns.

It was only a second league defeat of the season for Glentoran who are away to Ards in the league this Saturday.

Crusaders are not in Irish Premiership action, as they play Cove Rangers in the third round of the Scottish Challenge Cup at Station Park, home of Forfar Athletic.

What they said

Rodney Brown of Crusaders: "It was brilliant for me to get the two goals but the most important thing was to win after two disappointing draws.

"We needed to respond and we were deserved winners. We need to kick on now."

Gary Haveron, Glentoran manager: ""I think I maybe take quite a bit of the responsibility as to how we lined out from the start. We went 4-3-3 against a very very strong, powerful team like the Crues. They would probably say that was their best performance of the season but we didn't perform to the way we wanted to perform."

"We played into their hands by dropping too deep, we stood off them too much because we were fearful of getting hurt in behind and they did it to us anyway so we just didn't affect their play enough, certainly not in the first half."