Carrick Rangers face wait over injuries to three key men as Cliftonville visit Taylors Avenue
Stephen Baxter faces an anxious sweat over the fitness of three members of his squad ahead of Saturday’s visit of Cliftonville.
The Carrick Rangers supremo lost experienced campaigners BJ Burns (hamstring) and Matthew Snoddy (ankle) in the first half of last weekend’s loss to Linfield, with Jordan Forsythe (groin) also having to be withdrawn after the restart.
To make matters even worse, Baxter will most definitely be without Jimmy Callacher and Paul Heatley through suspension after the pair both received red cards in the 1-0 defeat at Windsor Park.
However, there could be good news to come for the Amber Army as Adam Lecky nears a return to action after returning to training.
“It shows you the level of the full-time teams when they’re playing the way they are...and you have to match that,” Baxter told Carrick Rangers’ social media platforms after the loss to Linfield.
"That’s why Billy-Joe (Burns) pulls a hamstring, Jordan (Forysthe) is struggling with a groin injury and Matthew (Snoddy) has an ankle injury after flying into a tackle.
"Those are all the consequences of the tempo of the game being very fast against the full-time boys.
"We were stretched to the limits here and then we get Paul’s (Heatley) sending-off...he committed hari-kari which was frustration from him. It was just naivety from a senior pro.”
Cliftonville responded from back-to-back defeats by earning a 3-1 success against Portadown last weekend.
It moved the Reds up to fourth in the Premiership table and they added to their goalkeeping ranks through the week after clinching a deal for stopper Jacob Cremen-Cowan.
“They’ve got good players – quality players, experienced players, players that know the league with real quality in their side,” explained Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton on the club’s official website.
“It’s a tough ask but you’ve got to go there and the one thing you’re guaranteed is that they’ll ask you questions, they’ll test your fortitude. They test your resilience.
“You’ve got to be able to compete and you’ve got to be able to deal with their quality. If you can do that, and with the quality that we have ourselves, I always fancy us to score a goal and that’s going to be important.”