Stephen Baxter hails 'midfield masterclass' from top player 'by some distance'

Baxter was forced into making six alterations to the team from Carrick’s last outing against Linfield with Jimmy Callacher and Paul Heatley both sent off against the Blues while Luke McCullough and Billy Joe Burns were also amongst those to miss out.

Forsythe provided a source of experience – alongside the likes of stand-in captain Joe Crowe and Danny Gibson – while 18-year-old Caleb Hawthorne marked his Premiership debut by scoring.

Having worked with Forsythe during a successful period at Crusaders, Baxter knows what the midfielder is capable of – and felt his side deserved more than what they got.

"We were very good today,” said Baxter. "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.

"I thought Kym Nelson was magnificent at the back and Jordan Forsythe, we saw a midfield masterclass and he was ‘Man of the Match’ by some distance. It was an outstanding performance from him.”