We dominated against Cliftonville, says Lagan

Switched to centre-back for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Cliftonville, Lagan said he was frustrated to lose the game but was keen to look at the positives from what was a promising display.

“The result is definitely very disappointing,” he told the Carrick Times. “I thought we dominated, more or less, for the whole game. They had one real chance and they took it and that’s what the difference was.

“I don’t think anyone sitting in the stands could say we didn’t create the majority of chances.

“At the end of the day everyone was writing us off before the match and we’ve proved a point today. We created the most chances; we maybe should have had one penalty, but I thought we did ourselves proud.”

He added: “It’s all about teamwork and a team ethic. Everybody is together in the changing room. We have a good, strong squad there and if we keep putting performances in like that week-in, week-out there’s no reason why we can’t go on up the league.”

Lagan was Carrick’s top goal threat in the Championship so how did he feel about playing at the back?

“I enjoyed playing there today. It’s just nice to be involved in the Premiership again it doesn’t matter where I play.

“There are a lot of positives we can take from the game. People expect Cliftonville to finish in the top three but I thought we dominated and I don’t think the boys have anything to worry about if we keep putting shifts in like that.”

With Stephen Baxter’s Crusaders up next at Seaview on Saturday (August 13) Lagan knows another difficult game is on the cards.

“Crusaders will be out to take three points,” he said. “They are one of the top teams in Northern Ireland at the minute and it’s going to be a hard game.”

Report by John Gillespie [email protected]

Cliftonville v. Carrick Rangers match report in this week’s Carrick Times

PLUS! Reds manager Tommy Breslin gives his thoughts on Rangers’ opening day performance