Priorians get the better of Carrick in crunch match

Opportunities were also squandered from open play and this, allied to an early failure to adequately mark Priorian’s best attacker, led to another dismal 2-1 home defeat for the relegation-threatened side.

Having seen their team defeat Priorians on their home turf earlier in the season, and a good win the previous weekend against Dromore, Carrick supporters might have reasonably hoped for at least a point from this important home fixture.

But with the visitors already two up by half-time and Carrick squandering chance after chance, especially from short corners, the omens were not good entering the second period.

Amy Cross at least managed to pull one back for her team early in the half but as their every subsequent effort failed to find the Priorians net, Carrick ended the day once again anchored to the bottom of the table, equal on points with Kilkeel and Greenisland. They have only two matches left to save themselves from either automatic relegation or a hazardous play-off against the second ranked team in Senior Three.

Seconds draw with Larne

With their first team still struggling to retain their Senior Two status, Carrick Ladies 2nd XI at least brought some small measure of comfort to the club when they fought hard to hold promotion-chasing Larne to a scoreless draw at the Amphitheatre.

Not unexpectedly, the match proved to be a scrappy affair with both teams clearly wishing to avoid defeat at all costs.

Few goalscoring opportunities arose for either side, but those that did were easily snuffed out by two determined defences who remained on top throughout the game.

Larne came close with a late penalty corner, but the ball was expertly blocked and cleared off the line by Carrick defender Jennifer Rodgers.

Fixtures: Carrick 2nd XI v Knock (away); Carrick 3rd XI v Dromore (4 pm Carrick Amphitheatre)