Carrick Rangers chief Stephen Baxter proud up against ‘multi-million pound’ rivals
Carrick Rangers boss Stephen Baxter dropped points for the first time this Premiership season but stood proud of his players’ performance against ‘multi-million pound’ Coleraine.
The experienced manager, however, finished frustrated at the 2-0 end return following Joel Cooper and Ben Doherty each grabbing decisive goals for the Bannsiders.
"Coleraine are a multi-million pound team, they're a great outfit, they've got great players, they practice what they do every single day,” said Baxter, who enjoyed wins over Portadown and Limavady United to kick off the top-flight campaign. “You can see that and you have to be alive to deal with the threats they have across their team.
"I thought we did it very, very well and I thought our team coped with it very well today and there wasn't a lot in it.
"We were disappointed with the two goals because we hesitated in the midfield and I think Aidan’s (Steele) called for it and then didn't go for it because he thought someone else was closer.
"We hesitate, ball breaks in between, they nick in and get it, clip it around a corner, ball's played through and it’s a goal.
"That was a real disappointment because that was the crucial opening goal.
"But we didn't lie down...we came at them in waves to try and make a couple of changes from the bench to try and find that opening and get that equaliser.
"We had a couple of good balls into the box but then you leave yourself open a little bit and again another bad control pass and they had that pace and quality to go in and score the second goal.
"So, disappointed maybe with the result but not disappointed with the performance."
Baxter picked out the absence of both Paul Heatley and Adam Lecky as key setbacks across the attacking options. Both started the previous fixtures, with Heatley netting in successive appearances.
"Yes, you're always going to miss those two players, they're top, top players,” said Baxter. "And they take a little bit of your attacking threat away from you.
"But Billy Joe Burns and Joe Crowe coming in to play their first games...I thought the two of them were excellent. I thought our set-up today was excellent as we tried to take the sting out of the Coleraine attack."