MJ Kamson-Kamara’s close-range finish with seven minutes to go secured a massive three points for Glentoran as they finally broke Carrick Rangers’ resistance at the BetMcLean Oval.

It had been a frustrating night for the Glens up until that point as some excellent defending by the visitors and the woodwork, on three occasions, kept them at bay.

But just when it looked like they would have to settle for a point Kamson-Kamara popped up to bundle the ball home after Nathan Gartside had spilled Aaron McEneff’s corner.

The goal lifted the roof off the Oval and moved Glentoran into second place in the Irish Premiership table, five points behind leaders Larne.

Declan Devine only made one change to the side which thumped Crusaders 5-1 on Saturday with Liam Burt coming in for Jordan Stewart.

The homes side were making much of the early running, but the final ball was just evading them in the opening 15 minutes.

A Ryan Cooney long throw five minutes later fell nicely for James Singleton in the Carrick penalty area, but Billy-Joe Burns was alert to get a block in and deny the Glens midfielder.

The hosts were left scratching their heads as to how they didn’t break the deadlock on 35 minutes after Nathan Gartside produced two point-blank saves in quick succession to deny both Jarlath O’Rourke and Aaron McEneff.

As we moved towards half-time Glentoran suffered a blow as captain Marcus Kane was forced off with an injury with Jack Malone coming on to replace him.

The second half continued in a similar vein with the visitors proving a tough nut to crack defensively while posing a threat on the break as Danny Gibson proved with an audacious long-range effort which failed to trouble Andrew Mills.

The hosts continued to keep knocking at the door and they hit the woodwork twice in the space of as many minutes as Josh Daniels’ header came off the post before Malone rattled the bar with a shot.

Gartside was called into action again on 72 minutes as he palmed away McEneff’s shot from outside the box.

From the resulting corner Cammy Palmer had an effort blocked after the ball pinballed about in front of the Carrick goal.

Five minutes later Glentoran struck the bar once again as McEneff’s excellent free-kick came back off the woodwork after Daniels had been pulled back by Benjamin Buchanan-Rolleston.

The pressure finally told in the 83rd minute as Kamson-Kamara poked the ball in from close range after Gartside had spilled McEneff’s corner much to the delight of the home support.

The final few minutes were tense as Carrick went in search of an equaliser, but Glentoran stood firm to close the gap at the top.

Glentoran 1 – 0 Carrick Rangers

Starting XI: Mills, Cooney, Kane (Malone), Kamson-Kamara, O’Rourke, Singleton, McEneff, Palmer, Clarke (Daniels), Hoban, Burt (Jenkins).

Subs: Crellin, Douglas, Connolly, Gallagher,