Taggart: We can beat the dreaded drop

After last week’s 2-1 defeat to Donegal Celtic, Carrick fell to bottom spot in the table and the club parted company with boss Stephen Small on Tuesday.

But Taggart believes the top-flight newcomers can avoid plunging straight through the relegation trap-door and back to the Championship.

The scrap for survival continues this weekend under interim manager Michael Hughes with a trip to the New Grosvenor Stadium to take on Lisburn Distillery. The two clubs are locked on 13 points and this weekend’s head-to-head is already a six-pointer. And there’s a little added incentive thrown in when you consider that fellow strugglers Glenavon and Dungannon Swifts are preparing for daunting trips to Linfield and Crusaders, respectively.

“It’s always hard to say that one game is bigger than another but on Saturday, the last thing we want to do is lose,” he said.

While the league table doesn’t lie, Taggart says it’s “easy to be pessimistic”. But the 31-year-old firmly believes some of Carrick’s misfortune this year has been down to naivety and costly individual errors. And that’s something he says every one of the players is working hard to resolve.

“All we can do is focus on Distillery and, hopefully, come away with the points. I genuinely believe that if we can get one or two wins it will give us a big confidence boost.

“I do think we can stay up and we will be trying to get off the bottom of the table, come Saturday.”

Read the full interview with Glenn Taggart in this week’s Carrick Times