Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King praises "outstanding" staff for work in his absence

Assistant manager Scott Irvine stepped up to take on matchday duties with King sitting in the stands following his sending off against Glenavon in late-January.

During that run, they won three matches and sit in seventh heading into another huge Danske Bank Premiership trip to Dungannon Swifts, who will be looking to build on their stunning Irish Cup quarter-final victory over Cliftonville at Solitude last weekend.

"I think my staff have been outstanding,” King told the club’s media channel. “Scott, Greg, Dixie, Brett, Tony - I genuinely think they have been outstanding.

"They deserve all the credit and a lot of praise because they've had my back when I haven't been here and did really well."

The ‘Gers will be hoping to bounce back from Tuesday night’s 5-1 home defeat to Glentoran, where they were 2-0 down inside 13 minutes after a Rhys Marshall brace before two injury time goals from Danny Purkis and Bobby Burns further hampered their goal difference, which at –18 is now worse off than their direct competition for the final European spot (Glenavon -11, Ballymena United -16).

King says he would rather go down fighting than sit back and accept defeat after Lloyd Anderson’s 60th-minute strike may have gave them dreams of replicating their comeback from 3-0 down to nick a point against Cliftonville in January.

"We bin it (the result) and move on because we have a big game on Saturday,” he added. “If somebody had told me we would have 34 points after 30 games I would be delighted - that's what we had all of last year. We bin tonight and move on quickly.

"I know we concede two late on when we are pushing. It’s hard enough against them big clubs and you have to stay in the game as long as you can, especially at home where we know we can get points against the big clubs.

"It seems to be every time we play the Glens that we can’t bridge that gap and they are the only team we haven’t taken points off.

"We play Glentoran a week here on Saturday again and they’ve (the players) been told we will need to improve a hell of a lot to get anything.

"I expect a big reaction not only on Saturday when we play Dungannon, but also when we play Glentoran here again at home next week.

"It’s disappointing because it (the two late goals) affects our goal difference. We were pushing and wanted to score so we gave it a real good rattle in the last five minutes.

"We’ve been caught on the counter – I would rather get beat five than accept defeat – that’s not me. I want to win games and get points on the board so I will take responsibility for that.”

King’s men are 14 points better off than Dungannon at this stage but have lost their last three at Stangmore Park, including a 4-1 defeat in December.

Dean Shiels’ side have failed to score in 57% of their home league games (8/14) – the highest in the top-flight – but King was impressed with their weekend showing.

"I watched their game against Cliftonville and thought they were outstanding,” he said. “They were really, really good in the Irish Cup.

"We know if we're on it that we can get points. We have struggled there - it's a tough place to go and a lot of teams struggle there. We will give it a rattle."