Coleraine's strength from the bench was why Carrick wanted to avoid extra-time, says Stephen Baxter who claims his squad produced 'a statement' performance despite Irish Cup exit
Stephen Baxter acknowledged how his worst fears came true after Carrick Rangers fell to an extra-time defeat to Coleraine in the fifth-round of the Irish Cup.
Trailing to Ben Wylie’s opener with the last kick of the first half, the Amber Army responded with eight minutes to go when Adam Lecky rifled home a low effort into the bottom corner.
With a recent busy schedule, Baxter was hoping his side could then find a winner before extra-time as he was aware of the strength Coleraine could call upon from the bench.
Those fears were realised as Coleraine substitute Matthew Shevlin made a decisive impact, scoring a hat-trick to send the Bannsiders through to the last eight as Carrick’s seven match unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end.
"We've gifted them a goal 30 seconds before the break, and a goal you just never concede in a million years, and we've done that,” Baxter said.
"You don't do that against top teams...so we had to find our way back into this game, and we did that.
"We found that momentum swing, we were able to get runners into the box, pressure into the box, and then we break that with Adam Lecky’s goal with six minutes to go.
"We were trying to press on, trying to get a winner, because I was worried about going to extra time, given the strength that they had from the bench, and players that they could bring on.
"You see that with Shevlin coming on and getting a hat-trick in the extra time period, so that's always difficult against a Coleraine squad of the ability that they have, and the power that they have, the players that they have. That's just natural.
"You always expect the full-time team to have that in them and we've been playing an awful lot of games in recent days, and I've asked our players, yet again, to go to the well, and try and stretch it into the extra time.
"They've given them the shirt on their back again today and I can only ever be proud of that performance.
“It was a statement, I feel, of how well we're playing right now, of how we've pushed Coleraine all the way here in 90 minutes.”