Glentoran hammered Coleraine 6-0 at the Oval to inflict a sixth successive defeat on the hapless Bannsiders.
The loss sees Coleraine drop out of the Irish Premiership top six, two weeks after the board issued a statement backing manager Oran Kearney.
Linfield restored their four-point lead at the top with a 2-1 win at Loughgall, while Cliftonville scored an injury-time winner to beat Newry City 2-1.
Glenavon won 2-0 at Carrick, with Dungannon beating Ballymena 4-2.
The Bannsiders have now won just once in their last 10 league games and drop down to seventh in the table, with Glenavon’s win away to Carrick meaning they leapfrog Coleraine into sixth.
The board said on New Year’s Eve that they “continue to believe that the current management are best placed to lead us forward into the New Year and beyond”.
That came after defeats over the festive period to Ballymena United and Loughgall, and before Coleraine lost 3-0 after extra-time to Cliftonville in the fifth round of the Irish Cup last weekend.
There were just 35 seconds on the clock at the Oval when David Fisher scored the first goal of his hat-trick after a poor mistake by Coleraine defender Jake Wallace.
He attempted to head the ball back to his goalkeeper Rory Brown, who had come off his line to collect, with the mix-up allowing the alert Fisher to nip in and tap home from close range.
The forward got his second two minutes before the end of the half, again getting the better of the unfortunate Wallace. A Coleraine attack was broken up in midfield and the ball quickly transferred forward to Fisher who cleverly cut in from the left before beating Brown with a low shot at his near post.
And Fisher completed his hat-trick four minutes into the second half, blasting his penalty down the middle after Kieran Farren had been adjudged to have fouled Junior in the box.
More sloppy defending presented Junior with a chance to score moments later and he duly obliged, waltzing through a static defence to make it 4-0 in the 52nd minute.
Two minutes later he was quickest to react after Fisher’s shot had come off the woodwork, finding the net from close range from the rebound.
The dominant home side made it six just after the hour when Bobby Burns got in on the act, firing low right-footed past a helpless Brown in the Coleraine goal.
The result sees Warren Feeney’s side leapfrog Crusaders into fourth while the Bannsiders drop out of the top six following a fifth successive league defeat.
Blues beat Loughgall to restore four-point lead
Linfield restored their four-point lead at the top of the table with a 2-1 win away to Loughgall.
A Tiernan Kelly own goal and a Kirk Millar volley secured all three points for the Blues, despite Benji Magee pulling one back for the Villagers minutes after Linfield grabbed their second.
After a competitive first half, the deadlock was broken just a minute into the second half, with the unfortunate Kelly turning the ball into his own net from a dangerous Millar cross.
Linfield doubled their lead 10 minutes. This time it was a bit of class from Millar, who struck a sweet volley with his right foot from the edge of the box following a Loughgall clearance.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Blues, though, as the Villagers struck back through their talisman Magee for his 15th goal of the season in the 58th minute.
Pablo Andrade did incredibly well breaking through midfield, before finding Magee whose effort took a deflection past a helpless Chris Johns in the Linfield goal.
Reds sink Newry with last-gasp Addis winner
A Jonny Addis double helped Cliftonville come from behind to defeat 10-man Newry City 2-1 at the Showgrounds to close the gap on second-placed Larne to four points with a game in hand.
Adam Salley opened the scoring in the fourth minute with his seventh goal of the season after the former Portadown striker rose highest to head home Noel Healy’s left-wing cross after Chris Curran could only clear as far as the Newry City left-back.
Jim Magilton’s men were level in spectacular style when, two minutes after half-time, Addis produced a goal-of-the-season contender, rifling into Conor Mitchell’s top left-hand corner from 30 yards, a strike the former Dungannon Swifts stopper could do nothing about.
Addis would go on to break Newry hearts in the 97th minute when the former Ballymena United defender poked home from close range to the delight of the Reds faithful and to stretch Cliftonville’s unbeaten run to 10.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of half-time when Ciaran O’Connor was given a straight red for a lunge on Rory Hale, a decision that incensed new manager Barry Gray, who was cautioned in the aftermath.
Dungannon beat Ballymena in bottom-of-the-table battle
Dungannon Swifts moved six points clear of Ballymena United at the foot of the table after a 4-2 win at the Showgrounds.
The visitors went in front on 14 minutes when Leo Alves’ in-swinging free-kick was met with a looping header by central defender Dean Curry, which found its way past Sean O’Neill.
Ballymena levelled on 26 minutes as they broke quickly and exploited a two-on-one situation which saw Mikey Place exchange passes with Fraser Taylor, who unselfishly squared for Place to fire past Declan Dunne.
The Swifts regained the lead five minutes before the break when an Alves corner was headed goalwards by Curry. His effort was hacked off the line by Sean Brown, but Ben Gallagher was on hand to force home the rebound from close range.
The visitors delivered a real hammer blow in first-half stoppage time when Kealan Dillon’s corner was headed goalwards by Adam Glenny, with the ball creeping on at the far post.
United reduced the deficit on 54 minutes when Sean Brown’s low cross from the right fell to Johnny McMurray, whose shot was blocked, but the rebound was smashed home by the in-rushing Fraser Taylor.
Ballymena hit the crossbar from a Jamie Robinson header before Dungannon clinched the points with two minutes left when Glenny headed home his second of the game from a Leo Alves free kick.
Glenavon too good for Carrick
It was a lively first half between Carrick Rangers and Glenavon at Taylors Avenue, with both teams having chances, but it took until the 45th minute for the deadlock to be broken and it was the away side who took the lead.
January signing James Doona’s free-kick into the box was headed away by Danny Purkis, but he was able to connect with the ball again, with his second delivery met with a resounding header by Matthew Snoddy, who nodded past Ross Glendinning.
In the 68th minute, Purkis was played through on goal by Lewis MacKinnon with his strong effort crashing off the left-hand post, to the frustration of the home fans.
One minute later, Stephen McDonnell’s men were awarded a penalty when David Cushley was adjudged to have handled Peter Campbell’s effort.
Ross Glendinning guessed the correct way and dived to his left to deny Jack Malone’s resulting spot-kick. However, Snoddy was able to connect with the rebound and played the ball back to Campbell, who fired home from close range.
Things went from bad to worse for the home side on the 95th minute when Joe Crowe was sent off after receiving two yellow cards during seven minutes of additional time.