Carrick Rangers boss Niall Currie doesn’t mind being billed as an Irish Cup underdog heading into today’s sixth round tie with in-form Crusaders at the Loughshore Arena.
The Seaview men have won their last six games in all competitions - keeping six clean sheets in the process - and lie third in the Danske Bank Premiership.
Carrick are 5/1 outsiders to cause a shock but that’s fine by Currie who has moulded the Taylor’s Avenue men into a tough nut to crack this season.
They may have suffered a last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Warrenpoint last weekend, but Rangers lie eighth in the division and have won five and drawn one of their last 11 outings.
Ahead of the highest profile top-flight tie of the last-16, Currie said: “We’ll be huge underdogs against a top class outfit and nobody will give us a chance of progressing.
“Crusaders are a massive club and they’re also a team of full-time footballers, but we’ll look forward to the challenge and try to make it as difficult as possible for them.”
The Crues won 3-1 at the Loughshore in the league in November, but it took two goals in added time to secure all three points for Baxter’s men.
“They won it with goals in the 93rd and 94th minutes,” said Currie. “We matched them really well that night but maybe a wee bit of naivety cost us.
“This will be a tough tie and a massive challenge, but it’s also a nice break for us from the league and it’s a chance for us to go and enjoy ourselves.”
Reflecting on last week’s dramatic defeat to Warrenpoint, Currie said: “It was a massive sickener and we were poor by our own standards. They were better than us on the day.
“We didn’t manage the game well, made a couple of individual errors and got punished for it, but we move on and now look forward to a massive game against Crusaders.”
Carrick have key defender Chrissy Rodgers available again after injury, while wing-back Lee Chapman faces a race against time to feature.
