Hughes keen to put Ards to the test

There’s a long way to go in the Championship season, but Carrick will face their sternest test to date when they take on League leaders Ards on Saturday, writes John Gillespie.

Michael Hughes’ side make the trip to Clandeboye Park on the back of the narrow 4-3 League Cup defeat to holders Crusaders.

It has been a while since Rangers’ last League outing when they ran riot against Dergview with a 6-0 win under the Friday night lights at Dixon Park in late September. Now East Antrim’s highest-placed club will be aiming to preserve their unbeaten start to the campaign against Niall Currie’s men who have won each of their opening six league games.

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Ards certainly boast a wealth of experience and there’s a glut familiar faces in their squad, with no less than seven former Taylor’s Avenue favourites in their ranks.

But Carrick’s new-look squad is beginning to gel with the young trio of Jonny Addis, Correy Davidson and Conor McCloskey growing in confidence and stature. And there’s the sterling form of Sencer Yilmaz, who has proved a real handful for opposition defences.

Despite Carrick’s strong start to the season, Hughes knows his side is far from the finished article and he’s taking nothing for granted.

“Ards will be a big test for us on Saturday,” Hughes told the Times. “They are top of the League; they have won six out of six and they are the in-form team and the team to beat in the Championship.

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“We will know how far we have come and where we are exactly after we play them, and what we have to do if we want to improve. We are looking forward to it. They’re unbeaten and it would be nice to put that record to the test.”

He added: “Ards are a good side but we don’t take our best performance, nor do we take in your worst performance into the game, because you just don’t know what you are going to get on the day.

“It would be a bit remiss of me to say we are going into the match full of confidence because we are going into it, I would say, as a team who are starting to gel; as a team that is starting to find themselves and a team that is starting to improve with every game and play in a fashion that is working for us.

“It will be a good game and I hope it is an entertaining match. I wouldn’t say we were going into it confident, but I would say we are going into it on an upward trend based on how we have been playing.”

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