A big night of midweek action in the Danske Bank Premiership produced important victories for Linfield, Larne and Ballymena United.

Linfield faced rivals Glentoran at The Oval in the first 'Big Two' derby of the season and ended up coming away three goals to the good.

Matt Green opened the scoring on 20 minutes with a low finish past Ross Glendinning, with Trai Hume adding a second just after the half-hour mark with a header from Kirk Millar's corner. Cameron Palmer then completed the scoring early in the second half.

At Mourneview Park, it took just one goal for Larne to get the better of Glenavon and move into second spot in the standings. Scoreless for most of the game, the winner came on 79 minutes through Andy Mitchell's long range strike which evaded the reach of home keeper Declan Brown.

Meanwhile, at the Showgrounds, Ballymena United twice came from two down to defeat Dungannon Swifts by the odd goal in seven.

Ethan McGee and Joe McCready handed the Swifts a commanding lead at the break, before Chris Rodgers pulled one back early in the second half.

Rhys Campbell restored Dungannon's two-goal cushion soon after but three goals in a 14-minute spell from Caolan Loughran, Leroy Millar and Jonte Smith tipped the balance back in favour of the Sky Blues.