Paul Heatley has heaped praise on manager Stephen Baxter after Carrick Rangers’ comprehensive 3-0 win over their former club Crusaders.
Both player and manager left the Seaview outfit this summer, and in their first match-up against their old employers since leaving, they comfortably won all three points.
Heatley scored twice in the victory with Emmett McGuckin scoring Rangers’ other goal as they moved up to tenth in the Irish Premiership table.
“He’s had a massive impact and I’m probably the best versed on that,” Heatley said of Baxter after the game.
“I’ve played with him my whole career so personally it’s very simple for me but the other players have taken to it like ducks to water.
“You can see the togetherness of the players and fighting for each other. The performances over the last few weeks have been tremendous and we just haven’t been getting the results but today we did.”
The victory was Carrick’s first win in four weeks after three draws and one defeat.
“The last few weeks we’ve been playing good football but not killing games off which has been really frustrating,” Heatley admitted.
“It can creep into players mind so seeing the second goal go in gave us a bit of breathing space.
“Going in a half-time we know 2-0 could be the most dangerous score in football so we had to go out and play like we were a goal behind and keeping doing what we did the first half, and we got our rewards again.”