MANAGER'S VERDICT: Stephen Baxter lauds Carrick players for producing 'a sterling performance' despite depleted squad losing out to Cliftonville

Here’s what he had to say after the 3-1 loss to the Reds at Taylors Avenue.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME?

"We were very good today.

"I think in the first half they were in our box twice and scored. We battered the door...I think we counted three or four big chances in the first half, scored one, missed the others, so I thought we sort of shadowed the first half as well.

"In the second half we had a right goal to try and get that equaliser. Time and number created that many chances, couldn't get the goal.

"Then we do get the goal and the linesman has his flag up, and it was one of those days, so we threw the kitchen sink at it and made a few changes just to have another go at it.

"We just couldn't get the sort of goal that probably the performance deserved.

"I thought the performance was magnificent, bearing in mind that we had to make six changes from the team that started last weekend, so that was difficult with the injury suspensions that we have.

"We had to blood one or two, Caleb Hawthorne making his debut today who was magnificent, and we had to shift a few players around who haven't played this season, but they gave a sterling performance out there today.

PROUD OF THE PERFORMANCE DESPITE THE LOSS OF SO MANY PLAYERS?

“Yes, you'll go away, and I said that to the team afterwards, you'll go away and you'll be very proud of the performance and what you asked of them because obviously you have to deliver something to them in training because we knew what we were up against earlier in the week.

"And then they have to go and deliver that and they listened to everything we told them. They worked incredibly hard today.

"I thought Kym Nelson was magnificent at the back and Jordan Forsythe, we saw a midfield masterclass and he was a man of the match by some distance. It was an outstanding performance from him, so those are little highlights, little moments you'll look at and say, well that was good, that was good, that was good.

SIGN OF THE FUTURE?

"There's other things that I'll look at and say, ‘I'm not very pleased with that’ but that's a manager's job to try and pick through things and try and improve where you can.

"But that's the way it is with injuries and suspensions..you just have to deal with it and you have to look at your younger players.

"We had three 16-year-olds on the bench today, which is good for them and giving them that opportunity to do their thing.