'You've got to do the same' - Danny Gibson delivers on Stephen Baxter's hat-trick challenge but Carrick 'still so much to do' in promotion play-off
Danny Gibson’s treble and a Paul Heatley brace secured Carrick Rangers a 5-2 first-leg advantage in the battle for Premiership status next season over second-tier Annagh United.
Carrick held a 4-0 lead by the break at Tandragee Road before Annagh substitute Craig Taylor set up Lee Upton to head home off his throw-in then the set-piece specialist steered in a last-gasp long-range free-kick – either side of Heatley’s second – to close the gap ahead of Friday’s second leg.
Here’s the verdict of Carrick Rangers boss Stephen Baxter:
OVERALL PERFORMANCE...
"Our first-half performance was really good - pulsating, high-tempo quick football, pressing and not letting Annagh have the ball.
"We were able to move it at a wee bit of a higher tempo, get in behind and score the goals.
"To come here after they had eight wins on the spin and press them to make sure they didn't have any quality in our areas was good.
"We had to attack this from the get-go, we did that really, really well and scored goals at the right moments.
"Our territory was very good, in the right areas of the football pitch.
"I felt it worked really well in the first half.
"I'm not coming out here saying 'job done'."
DANNY GIBSON...
“I said to him during training last night ‘I scored in a play-off game away from home then scored a hat-trick to keep our club up (for Crusaders v Lisburn Distillery, 2001)...so you've got to do the same’.
"But it's important you keep tuned in and finish the job.
"This isn't something you should be proud to be in...this is a job of work.
"But it brings huge pressure...we carry the weight and responsibility of keeping a football club in the division.
"We've got to work really, really hard and there's still so much to do."
ANNAGH LIFELINE...
"The disappointment probably will be in the second half when we conceded a number of soft goals.
"Particularly the second...a soft free-kick in the 95th minute of the game in your top corner so it's 5-2.
"But we've restricted them to very little tonight and missed two other sitters.
"It's still finely poised...three goals for any manager will be a great advantage but no-one takes anything for granted in football.
"You can only ever look after yourself, your own preparation, all the bits and pieces done no-one ever sees.
"And we got a lot of stuff right but I didn't underestimate this team whatsoever and I won't underestimate them for the second leg.
"They brought a boy on (Craig Taylor) with a huge long throw and in the second half they were trying to change the rhythm of the game.
"So we have to be prepared for what comes our way...we knew the style of play they had, we knew we had to not get drawn into that and try to work the ball a little bit better if we could.
"Annagh deserve so much respect, they've fought their way into this and we had to deal with that ball into our box."
SECOND LEG...
"When you come straight off the back of a game we will have a look in the cold light of day.
"I'll take a look at this game, break it down and see what we've done well, where they might have had a bit of advantage that I need to look at carefully.
"There's a lot of thinking will go in behind it.
"Because it was H&W Welders, Annagh United and Limavady United (in play-off contention) we were looking at all three then had to narrow it down very quickly.
"There's no real footage on these teams so we had a lot of people watching and picked up a little bit information then got a video to break down their Saturday game.
"So much goes into it really...so whether we go into Friday with the same tweaks, do something different or tweak slightly I'll look at it and look at the personnel.”