Haveron: We must show a greater will to win matches

And he confesses that, for the first time, he was angry at the defeat. But he believes their title fate is still in their own hands. The one thing he doesn’t want his players to lose is their belief in their ability to beat all comers.

“I’ve always said that, whatever we do, we must retain the winning mentality, because that can make all the difference and win you games when the chips are down and things are not going your way,” he said.

“I want my players to have the same tremendous hunger as myself and 95 per cent of them have that. But there are a few boys at the moment who have been going missing and that’s not what I expect of Carrick Rangers players.

“We shouldn’t be happy about losing to teams like Loughgall – and I don’t mean any disrespect to them.

“I will be telling my players a few home truths and they will know that it’s fully deserved after Saturday.

“I will remind them that they shouldn’t take the pats on the back when they win if they can’t take the criticism when they lose.

“Saturday’s defeat was a serious blow to our ambitions. We told the players before the game that, with none of the other title contenders in action, it was a great opportunity to put some breathing space between them and ourselves and apply a bit of pressure on the rest.

“But, and I hate to be constantly repeating myself, it was another case of déjà vu as we needlessly conceded sloppy goals at our end and failed to take a multitude of chances at the other – and it left me feeling angry and very bitter.

“Their goals were avoidable and they just shouldn’t have happened. James Costello is a good player but we made him look even better than he his. You can’t stand off a forward like him and give him loads of space, nor can you simply throw yourself hopefully into the tackle. But he was allowed to run 40 yards down the right wing and get in a cross which was poorly defended and the guy scored from a couple of yards out.

“I’m not questioning the work-rate of the players, I’m questioning their ability to force the issues; to make things happen when that is what’s needed. We need a greater will to win than what has been showing of late. I thought we had it in abundance when we came back to beat the Welders, but it’s not been seen since.”

He added: “Given where Loughgall are in the table, what was their motivation to win in comparison to ours? We have been hoping to win the league and be promoted and you can’t get greater incentive than that. Yet there wasn’t a lot of evidence in our play that we had the necessary desire to get those points.

“We deserved at least a point and I thought we should have won the match. Yet, in saying that, Loughgall could also have won by more because Simon Steele made a couple of great saves.

“What’s happened has happened. Now we need a big reaction ahead of the ‘home’ match on Saturday against Limavady United. We may have beaten them 5-0 away earlier in the season but it’s a new ball game now. They have improved as well and we must be up for the challenge.”