Two minutes of madness means we paid the price, says Carrick Rangers manager Stuart King after loss to Crusaders
Stuart King said "two minutes of madness" cost his Carrick Rangers team dear in the 2-1 defeat to Crusaders at Seaview.
After holding a slender advantage through Curtis Allen's opener in the first half, the Crues would turn the game on its head by netting twice in two minutes through Daniel Larmour and Kieran Offord.
Carrick never overly looked troubled until that devastating double and King was left disappointed at the manner of the two goals.
He stated: "First half I was really, really impressed....I told them at half-time to expect a reaction.
"We didn't react to it quick enough, we didn't keep the ball
"We turned over possession way too easy and it was wave after wave.
"I thought we'd seen it out.
"Then it's been two minutes of madness where two individual errors have cost us.
"A guy volleyed the ball into the box and a guy stands free six yards out...that can't happen against us.
"It's happened twice now in two weeks.
"One of our lads has a throw-in to his feet and he's given the ball away on the halfway line.
"That's ridiculous, it's cost us again."
Carrick travelled to north Belfast without a host of players but King is expecting to have a few back ahead of County Antrim Shield and Premiership commitments this week.
"The only senior player I had fit and available today (on the bench) was Emmett (McGuckin) and I wanted to stay in the game as long as I could to try and get Emmett on the pitch,” he added.
"Reece (Glendinning) hasn't kicked a ball, hasn't played a reserve game, after an operation.
"Andrew Mitchell was called back from Larne, Ronan Kalla has come back to the club from a loan spell and hasn't played a match.
"So that's my subs today, that's where we are.
"I thought we had to keep possession of the ball more, we turned over possession about 40 times.
"I missed my Joe Crowes, people who can get on the ball; I missed my Ben Tilneys, people who can carry the ball up the pitch; I missed my David Cushley.
"I missed a lot of big players today...I needed people to get on the ball and keep the ball for me.”