Stephen Baxter delighted with strong showing of Carrick Rangers supporters at Inver Park as he aims to down former club Crusaders
Carrick Rangers manager Stephen Baxter is eager to see even more supporters follow the club after a healthy number of fans cheered on the Boxing Day draw at reigning champions Larne.
In the east Antrim derby, Carrick produced a resolute performance to pick up a share of the spoils in a game that saw Larne have three goals disallowed.
However, speaking to Carrick Rangers’ social media platforms after the game, Baxter heaped special praise on the travelling support who gave their vocal backing at Inver Park.
The Carrick chief will be hoping for another big crowd as the ‘Gers welcome his former club Crusaders to Taylors Avenue this evening.
He said: "It was very, very exciting to see so many Carrick Rangers supporters on Boxing Day.
"To give them a big round of applause afterwards for how well they supported us was just great.
"They supported us to a man and that's the sort of thing we need.
"We need that backing, we need the fans to get behind us as they are the 12th man.
"Let's see if we can all bring a friend and double that number.”
The 0-0 stalemate at Larne means Carrick are within two points of tenth-placed Glenavon and seven clear of bottom side Loughgall.
Baxter labelled his side’s performance at Inver Park as “disciplined” and knows they could have left with even more to show for their efforts after Seanan Clucas passed up a glorious chance at the death.
"I was very delighted with a point,” he added.
"I would have probably been even more delighted with three had Seanan maybe smacked the chance he had rather than squaring it.
"We caused them a lot of problems in the first 15 or 20 minutes...and then we had to absorb a lot of pressure for 20 minutes.
"We knew Larne's strengths, we knew they would pass it but we dealt with that all day.
"It was a very disciplined performance, a lot of concentration and work over the last couple of weeks.
"I thought the team were magnificent with how they were set-up and the work-rate was first class.”
Their opponents Crusaders ended a run of three successive defeats as Kieran Offord’s double saw off rivals Cliftonville at Seaview on Boxing Day.