Carrick Rangers manager Stuart King was left frustrated with individual errors which impacted his side during Friday’s 3-2 Premiership defeat to Glentoran and also reflected on a “horrible challenge” he felt deserved greater punishment.

King’s men went ahead through Danny Gibson’s penalty after Paul Heatley had been fouled, but a manic five-minute spell before half-time resulted in Carrick falling behind as David Fisher and Frankie Hvid scored while Kurtis Forsythe was also sent off.

Heatley equalised after the break with his first goal since returning to Taylor’s Avenue from Crusaders this summer, but Fisher would have the final say, glancing home a 77th minute header as Declan Devine’s side extended their unbeaten league run to three matches.

After an opening day victory over Glenavon, Carrick have now lost consecutive games to Loughgall and the Glens, but King felt his team “emptied the tank” in pursuit of a positive result.

placeholder image — Carrick Rangers star Danny Gibson in action against Glentoran. PIC: Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press

"I thought we were on it and give everything, which was a complete difference to last week,” he told the club’s media channel. “Every player emptied the tank, but individual errors have cost us which is disappointing because I thought we were outstanding, especially when we went down to 10-men.

"The game plan worked a treat at half-time...we let them go wide and knew we'd be direct with Danny and run off it. It worked, but then we give away a silly goal at the end with a man standing free in the six-yard box which can't happen. Individual errors have killed us.

"I thought we rode their storm at the start of the game. We were really competitive but didn't keep the ball enough and we sorted it out. I thought we were a really big threat up top and we've made bad decisions which cost us big style.

"The goals are poor, the decision to get sent off for a second yellow after being booked is poor and I was really disappointed because we were really competitive. We created loads, looked a real threat with Heats running in behind - I thought our play was really good.”

While Forsythe was given his marching orders for a second booking after a challenge on the returning Johnny Russell, King felt Glens captain Marcus Kane should have seen red 12 minutes prior for a tackle which required Joe Crowe to be replaced at half-time.

"There are things before we go down to 10 men I think need to be talked about because there's a horrible challenge on 32 minutes and the referee has classed it as a yellow card, but I've watched it back and I think differently,” he added. "Joe Crowe has stud marks up both legs, Albert Watson has been emptied on the edge of the box and played on - he didn't even think that was a free-kick.

"Albert Watson doesn't go off the pitch unless he's really hurt - that's a fact. It is what is and we'll see how we are. We regroup on Tuesday night and come up with a game plan to get a result next Saturday (against Crusaders) because that's two defeats now and it's not great because I thought we deserved something."