Niall Currie’s Carrick frustration at loss in game ‘there for the taking’
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Defeat for Carrick by 2-0 left Currie looking back on a display in which his players “were not brave with or without the ball”.
“We talk about performance more than anything and came in today off the back of a really good display on Tuesday,” said Currie. “But today, let’s be honest, we were dire.
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Hide Ad“In the first half, especially, we never got near Portadown - we were not brave with or without the ball.
![Carrick Rangers boss Niall Currie. Pic by PressEye Ltd.](https://www.northernirelandworld.com/webimg/TUFZMTMwMDYzMTEx.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&width=640&quality=65)
![Carrick Rangers boss Niall Currie. Pic by PressEye Ltd.](/img/placeholder.png)
“What disappointed me the most was the impression some felt today was a dead rubber game or end-of-season affair.
“You’re up and down this season, from the high place of Tuesday night to today and you can see the inconsistency across the league but the key word is performance.
“And I’ve seen it before this season, results will take care of themselves but we’ve not been able to string together five or six really good performances.
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Hide Ad“I was disappointed today with that apathy in the first half...we were much better in the second half but it couldn’t have been much worse.
“Did we put a tackle in over the first half? I watched a Portadown player go past three Carrick players with mine basically hanging out a toe.
“Portadown had young players in the middle of the park up against our senior players.
“We didn’t impose ourselves...it’s okay having size but you must be aggressive and attack the ball in both boxes.
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Hide Ad“That game was there for the taking...if we get near our capabilities today we’ve a massive step for three points.
“And what better motivation do you need than three points to go ahead of Portadown and closer to Warrenpoint before we play each other?
“We don’t talk about how Portadown play, we focus on our own performance but that was missing and, even with that, that’s a game we should be coming away with at least something.”
Portadown took a first-half lead off Ben Tilney’s free-kick finish then doubled the advantage late on with a Lee Bonis header.
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Hide Ad“Goals change games too and if we had put our chances away then it’s a completely different situation, but that’s all ifs and buts,” said Currie. “Aaron Hogg had a couple of free-kicks to save but nothing else.
“Did we work their goalkeeper the same way? We had a couple of great chances but still didn’t work the goalkeeper bar a few saves.
“We got done today off two set-pieces - yet we must have had double or treble that number but still didn’t look like scoring at any stage.
“Great bit of quality from Ben Tilney and a great header from Lee Bonis.
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Hide Ad“I’ve three 6 foot 3 players to deal with a lad 5 foot 10...but we’ve conceded goals like that a lot and making the same mistakes too often.”
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