It turned to be an action packed, dramatic Super Saturday at both ends of the Sports Direct Premiership.

Leaders Linfield stretched their hold at the top to eight points courtesy of a 5-1 defeat of Loughgall at Windsor Park.

The Blues moved in front after just ten minutes through Joel Cooper who sent a deflected right foot effort past Berraat Turker.

Loughgall equalised in first half stoppage time after Pablo Andrade unleashed a terrific left-foot volley from outside the area, but four second half goals saw the Blues sweep to the win.

Linfield regained the advantage eight minutes after the break when Matthew Clarke knocked the ball home at the back post from Chris McKee's ball across the area.

McKee got on the scoresheet himself four minutes later with a finish into the roof of the net after the visiting defence couldn't clear the ball.

Darragh McBrien added a fourth on 70 minutes at the back post from another Millar right-sided cross before, three minutes from time, McKee completed the scoring from close range.

Cliftonville edged out Coleraine at The Showgrounds to move back into second spot in the standings.

The deadlock was broken on 57 minutes after a superb cross to the back post was met by Ben Wilson who then volleyed high into the net beyond Deane.

Coleraine levelled just over ten minutes later when McKendry finally found the net after cutting in to beat Odumosu with a right foot effort into the roof of the net.

But, with just under a quarter-of-an-hour to go, Sam Ashford grabbed what proved to be the winner with a close range finish after Stephen Mallon had done well to beat a couple of defenders down the right before crossing into the box.

Larne came back from a goal down and a man down to defeat Newry City at The Showgrounds.

Newry moved in front just before the hour. Barney McKeown sent a free-kick behind the Larne rearguard, and Adam Salley managed to get past Leroy Millar to send an effort past Ferguson and into the net.

Tiernan Lynch's side were reduced to ten men when Ilijah Paul was dismissed moments after coming on for throwing the ball at Hughes.

Larne levelled with ten minutes remaining after a Tomas Cosgrove cross from the right was headed on by Lee Bonis for Thomson to blast a volley into the net.

Then, remarkably, Thomson struck again six minutes later with what proved to be Larne's winner from another Cosgrove delivery.

Crusaders and Glentoran couldn't be separated after a frantic encounter at Seaview.

The Glens moved in front on 35 minutes. A Marcus Kane header came back off the crossbar, with Junior unable to convert the rebound before the ball eventually fell to Jay Donnelly who made no mistake.

Stephen Baxter's side levelled on the stroke of half-time when Philip Lowry fired a right-foot effort into the bottom corner from around 20 yards from goal.

Glenavon climbed off the foot of the table with a crucial victory over Carrick Rangers at the Loughview Leisure Arena.

The Lurgan Blues edged into the lead on 25 minutes courtesy of Peter Campbell's low finish from the edge of the area after the home defence had failed to clear a corner.

Rangers levelled on 38 minutes through Curtis Allen with a backheel finish after Tilney had combined with Nedas Maciulaitis to send the ball into the box.

But, three minutes from the break, the visitors regained the advantage with Campbell's second of the afternoon, again from the edge of the area after some more home defensive failings.

The game was settled as a contest midway through the second half when Niall Quinn rifled the ball past Glendinning from just inside the area.

Meanwhile, Ballymena United and Dungannon Swifts shared the spoils at The Showgrounds.

Isaac Westendorf handed the Sky Blues a 25th minute advantage when he outpaced the Swifts defence before firing a powerful finish past Conor Mitchell.

However, six minutes into the second half, Rodney McAree's levelled after Matthew Lusty's pass across the face of goal was turned into his own net by defender Lewis Tennant.