Rangers carried positive momentum into this festive fixture following back-to-back wins against Ballymena United and Newry City.
An accumulation of yellow cards saw Nedas Maciulaits suspended, with Ben Buchanan-Rollestin coming into a rejigged side in his place, while Emmett McGuckin also missed out for the first game after his straight red card.
It was Tiernan Lynch’s men that started the game the better of the two sides, and after Levi Ives’ shot was blocked by Kurtis Forsythe on 17 minutes, the Inver Park outfit opened the scoring just short of the half hour mark.
Aaron Donnelly’s delivery into the box found midfielder Millar who got away from Buchanan-Rolleston before firing a shot into the far corner of the net.
Carrick struggled to get going in the first half as their opponents were well in the ascendancy; Scottish striker Andy Ryan going close to doubling their advantage when he turned and fired a low snapshot wide of the upright from twenty yards.
‘Gers boss Stuart King would have been relieved to hear the half time whistle, giving him the opportunity to reset his troops who came out and looked much livelier throughout the second period.
First, some fine skill up the right flank from Forsythe created Carrick’s first chance of note, but the wing-back fired over from an awkward angle.
Danny Purkis was next to threaten as he latched onto David Cushley’s perfectly weighted through ball, made his way down the left channel of the penalty area and shot powerfully at goal with the ball clipping the top of the crossbar.
Rangers’ search for a leveller continued as a long ball forward from Buchanan-Rolleston found the run of Curtis Allen who ran towards the left side of the box to evade defensive duo Craig Farquhar and Tomas Cosgrove before forcing ‘keeper Rohan Ferguson into a fine save as he tipped the ball over the top of the crossbar.
Against the run of play, Larne grabbed their second goal of the day with a quarter of an hour remaining.
A throw-in high up the pitch was taken by Ives to the feet of Millar on the byline who was afforded the space and time to cross towards the front post where Ryan converted from five yards.
However, the ‘Gers refused to throw the towel in as they halved the deficit only minutes later.
Buchanan-Rolleston’s long free-kick was headed into the penalty area by Cameron Stewart where the alert Allen got to the ball ahead of Ferguson before taking it past the visiting ‘keeper and scoring into the empty net.
Ultimately, however, it wouldn’t be enough as Larne got over the line in the closing stages to seal the win in what was a close-fought encounter.
Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning; Albert Watson, Cameron Stewart, Ben Buchanan-Rolleston; Kurtis Forsythe, Steven Gordon, Joe Crowe (Andy Mitchell, 90), Ben Tilney; David Cushley; Danny Purkis, Curtis Allen.
Unused substitutes: Ben McCauley, Mark Surgenor, Jack Montgomery, Josh Andrews, Jaydyn Withers, Reece Glendinning.
Bookings: Kurtis Forsythe (42’), Joe Crowe (57’), Danny Purkis (64’), Steven Gordon (90+4’)
Larne: Rohan Ferguson; Tomas Cosgrove, Craig Farquhar, Aaron Donnelly; Kieran Lloyd, Leroy Millar, Jaziel Orozco, Levi Ives; Joe Thomson (Shea Gordon, 82); Lee Bonis, Andy Ryan.
Unused substitutes: Aidan Dowling, Mark Randall, Paul O’Neill, Micheal Glynn, Odhran McCart.
Bookings: Levi Ives (65’), Joe Thomson (77’), Jaziel Orozco (83’)
Referee: Ben McMaster
