Stephen Baxter insists 'the quality has to improve' after Carrick Rangers fall to Cliftonville defeat
Carrick Rangers manager Stephen Baxter insists “the quality has to improve” after his side suffered a 3-0 Premiership defeat to Cliftonville – but maintains full confidence they can deal with upcoming challenges as the Taylors Avenue outfit look to stave off any potential relegation threat.
Goals from Rory Hale, Alex Parsons and Stephen McGuinness helped Cliftonville move into the Premiership’s top-half while extending Carrick’s winless league run to nine matches.
The ‘Gers have endured a testing season to date and currently sit eleventh, nine points adrift of closest rivals Glenavon who have two games in hand in the race to avoid a promotion/relegation play-off against the Championship’s second-placed team.
Baxter’s men make the trip to high-flying Dungannon Swifts on Saturday afternoon looking to pick up just their second away win of the campaign and apply pressure to the Lurgan Blues, who welcome Jim Magilton’s Reds to Mourneview Park.
"You have to look at things, accept where you are....we're getting six, seven, eight performances week in, week out which are top drawer and there are three or four performances which aren't up to the standard we're looking for,” Baxter told the club’s media channel. “That can be different players, it's not just the same players.
"The quality has to improve, we have to retain the ball better, maintain pressure and score goals to win matches.
"Time is not on your side, but the quality of the players that are here will continue to get better, improve and hopefully we'll have what we need in the tank to deal with what is in front of us.
"It's something we don't fear - you have to stand up to it, go play and enjoy the challenge, not shy away from it.
"There are a lot of good leaders in the dressing room. Ethan Boyle has been a warrior from the moment he stepped in and his fight has been fantastic. Adam Foley is a big voice that has improved us immediately.
"We need to see people like Seanan Clucas back and Paul Heatley after his injury.
"There are one or two things that you hope fall in your favour but all these games are incredibly difficult, there are a lot of very good teams around the Irish League this year.
"We've no divine right. We have to stay focused on us and stay in the moment, play our football, work hard and don't panic."
Carrick thought they’d netted a second half equaliser through Kyle Cherry, which Baxter believed was “three or four yards” over the line, but the linesman didn’t award a goal and Parsons put Cliftonville 2-0 ahead four minutes later with a powerful strike.
"The better team won this football match,” reflected Baxter. “They passed it in better areas than we did, got into better areas to score goals, retained it better, and whilst we huffed and puffed and competed very well in certain stages of the game...we have scored a goal by the looks of things, it looks like it's three or four yards over the line according to everybody.
"The linesman is the one that makes that decision and it doesn't count, but that doesn't take away from the gulf between the two teams because Cliftonville were by far the better team."