Danske Bank Premiership: Carrick Rangers v Glentoran
(Saturday, Taylor’s Avenue, 3pm)
GOING from top to bottom has never been an easy transition – but Barry Johnston is enjoying life at Premiership strugglers Carrick Rangers and believes they will avoid relegation this season.
After winning two league championships and three League Cups with his beloved Cliftonville, Johnston left for the Taylor’s Avenue club last summer. Carrick’s shock 4-3 win over leaders Crusaders in mid-week moved them above the bottom two Ballinamallard United and Warrenpoint Town and has given them a great chance of staying in the top flight.
The west Belfast man said: “No disrespect to Carrick but funds are small and things like your training gear is very limited compared to Cliftonville.
“You realise how lucky you were playing for a top two team. It’s like night and day between top and bottom. Everything is there for you at Cliftonville, you’ve two physios, all your training gear… Don’t get me wrong, the Carrick board work really hard and do as much as they can for the players.
“Other than that, football is football. I always speak to Gary [Haveron, Carrick manager] about the opportunities that you have at bigger clubs. But for what Carrick have I think they’re punching above their weight.”
A bad knee injury sustained in the 2014 St Stephen’s Day derby against Crusaders put paid to Johnston’s Reds career being extended: “I have enjoyed my football this season, but I’m not going to lie. I love Cliftonville. The time was right to leave. Obviously with my knee injury I couldn’t play on a plastic pitch every week and the opportunity came along to go to Carrick and everyone’s been absolutely brilliant to me.
“I enjoy working with them and enjoy giving bits of knowledge to the younger lads. The only thing that you miss is winning 90 per cent of your games. Despite my knee injury, I’m still able to get through matches and ‘Gazza’ has really looked after me. He knows I can’t play three games in a week and he leaves it to me as what games I can play in. He’s very, very trusting.”
Johnston described the touchline schmozzle between the Carrick and Crusaders players on Tuesday night as “a lot of nonsense”, adding: “I remember watching Packie McAllister and Roy McCreadie go toe-to-toe on the sideline and the next season Roy signed him. It happens in football.”
With Carrick hosting Glentoran on Saturday, Johnston is confident that Tuesday night’s victory over the champions can be their launch pad to safety: “I think we can stay up,” said the central midfielder.
“I think the penny has dropped with the players. If we stick to gameplans instead of playing for ourselves there are games that we can get points from.”
In the not too distant future, ‘Janty’ would like to go into management: “The more I watch games from the bench, the more I enjoy it. You see the game differently from what you see on the pitch.
“When the players sacrifice their own game and they work together there is no reason why we’ll not get results. And when they do that you get a buzz out of it.”
