'Mountain we have to climb' Irish League relegation fight reality follows Carrick's Irish Cup romance
Carrick Rangers return to relegation concerns bolstered by the high of Irish Cup progress – with Stephen Baxter pointing to positives from fresh faces as cause for extra cheer.
Sitting seven points clear of basement-based Glenavon having two games in hand inside the drop zone, Carrick will look to maximise home advantage tonight against defending Premiership champions Linfield.
Having been hit for seven at Taylors Avenue by Glentoran in the last league outing before Saturday’s 5-1 knockout blow against second-tier Queen’s University, Baxter’s Carrick can reflect on the game’s highs and lows from recent weeks.
“There's that wee bit of quality you have to find at the Premiership to take you where you need to be and we're looking for it all the time,” said Baxter, who added after Saturday “there’s always romance in the cup”. “We're competing against really good teams above us.
“We were expected to win that football match (against Queen’s)...we did it, we did it well but we know the mountain we have to climb in the Premiership and that is a bigger task for all of us.
“We've got a game here against Linfield, it's going to be a really tough match and we have to just knuckle down and keep playing.”
January arrivals Mikey Place and Matthew Olosunde both offered encouraging signs in the weekend win.
“I was really pleased with Mikey’s performance here for an hour...he put some brilliant balls in,” said Baxter. “Matthew will probably take a little bit longer to learn the league..he hasn't played for a wee while but he looks like he's natural.”