Carrick Rangers boss Stuart King looking to put things right against Newry City

Having narrowly lost out against Cliftonville and Coleraine (both 1-0 defeats) and defeated Portadown, Carrick went to the Newry Showgrounds in November with confidence - only to get turned over 4-1 by Darren Mullen’s men.

That remains Newry’s last league victory on the pitch while Carrick have only won once since – a 2-0 victory over Portadown – but King is far from worried about the run of results.

"People will be surprised, but I'm quite content,” he said. “We've been playing well and haven't taken our chances in the last few games we've drawn, which in my opinion should have all been wins.

"The only game we haven't been competitive in over the last five was against Crusaders.

"We drew away to Larne, at home to Cliftonville, in the Irish Cup and got knocked out on penalties, should have beat Glenavon last week and drew against Derry City during the week.

"Our actual performance level has been really high and not turning those draws into wins has killed us.

"We're creating lots of opportunities and just not putting the ball in the net. I'd be a lot more worried if we were getting beat three or four every week, but we're not - we're really competitive."

With the absence of top marksman Curtis Allen, who will undergo an operation “in the next week or two” to rectify an ankle issue and only be available again for the last “month or six weeks of the season”, King moved to address the issue of goals in January.

He signed Nedas Maciulaitis from Loughgall on a two-and-a-half year deal before adding Coleraine’s James McLaughlin on Deadline Day.

Maciulaitis had netted 12 times for the Lakeview Park outfit and King says the striker is already looking at home.

"We've had him watched plenty and I know every club in the bottom six wanted to sign him, but not many wanted to make a move in January and we needed a striker so it was ideal for us,” he added. "He was keen to come to us - he sees us as a Premiership team next season and he didn't want to go somewhere to fight to stay in the league.

“He's a brilliant signing and been really good.”

With a gap developing between the top and bottom six, tonight’s game is another chance for Carrick to take a step towards their goal of finishing seventh, which King says “would be like winning the league”.

"We're not getting carried away but if we win on Friday night, we jump above Glenavon and are only a few points behind Ballymena in seventh - it would be like us winning the league if we finished in that position,” he added. “We're really grounded and know we have to keep digging out results."