IRISH LEAGUE: Gary Haveron calls for fighting spirit from Carrick Rangers

The East Antrim club plummeted to the bottom of the Danske Bank Premiership table following last week’s defeat by Warrenpoint Town at Seaview.

To compound matters, defender Glenn Taggart was dismissed and is out of Saturday’s important game against Portadown at Shamrock Park.

“Our aim is to get out of this mess – to do that we have to start picking up points,” said Haveron.

“We can’t afford to start feeling sorry for ourselves –the players are the only ones that can start putting points on the board.

“Yes, we were gutted after our result against Warrenpoint. It’s games like that we need to be winning, but it didn’t happen. I though we were the better side.

“We conceded a poor goal, but we bossed the second half and created all the big chances. We just weren’t clinical enough around goal. I don’t think we played particularly badly on the night.”

It was always uphill once Taggart was red carded – his first ever dismissal in his 18 years at the club.

“He won the ball and that’s what made it so frustrating.” added Johnston. “It certainly didn’t look a dangerous tackle to me.

“You are always going to get tackles like that because it’s a contact sport. It was the follow-through that caught the Warrenpoint lad.”

Portadown will also be missing midfielder Robert Garrett, who was sent off in last week’s bruising Mid Ulster derby defeat by Glenavon at Mourneview Park.