W e don’t fear Blues mission, maintains Cherry
MIDFIELDER Kyle Cherry has warned Linfield that Carrick Rangers will be out to spoil the party when they travel to the Loughshore Hotel Arena today.
David Healy’s Blues approach the game in the best possible shape, having enjoyed an unbeaten run over the month of February which resulted in them establishing a four-point cushion at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership table.
With only eight games of an intriguing title race remaining, the Gibson Cup pendulum has swung firmly in the direction of the current holders.
Carrick, in their first season back in the Premiership, have been a surprise package so far and have climbed to eighth place on 32 points — which almost certainly guarantees their top-flight status.
Cherry believes his team can throw a spanner into the Blues’ well-oiled machine.
“The way Niall (Currie) has us drilled, we don’t fear any team,” he said.
“Although we’ll be playing the best team in the country, we are relishing the challenge.
“Every game we go into, we look for three points.
“In saying that, if I was offered a point before the match, I’d be happy.
“Coleraine are on the tails of Linfield at the minute, it’s an interesting title race for both of them.
“As I said, we don’t fear anyone.
“We just might be able to spoil Linfield’s party.”
Carrick, under the astute managerial expertise of Currie, have proved quite a few people wrong as they were tipped for the drop after coming up from the Championship last season.
“The gaffer has been brilliant,” said Cherry.
“I came to the club from Ards, who were struggling.
“Then all the talk was about Carrick being favourites for relegation.
“But we have a lot of quality in the squad. The formation we play suits everyone — we’ve got a good structure.
“For what we have done so far, a lot of credit must go to the manager and his backroom staff.
“He was one of the reasons I came to the club.
“He had a few bad experiences with both Ards and Portadown and, in his own words, he was tossed onto the scrapheap.
“Carrick gave him the chance and he excelled massively. I think we have surprised a lot of people the way we have performed.”
Carrick are only three points adrift of seventh-placed Glenavon, and Cherry insists they’ll keep fighting for every point from now until the end of the season.
He added: “I know the table may suggest that we are in a safe place, but we take each game as it comes. We don’t intend to put the feet up, thinking we are safe, as Linfield will find out.
“We don’t look at the stats, we simply try to win every game to see where we end up at the end of the campaign. To be honest, we probably should have had a few more wins. There have been games we’ve battered teams and came away with nothing.
“We are in a good place and we are going to get better. There are no cliques in our dressing room — everyone is pulling in the one direction, from the management, backroom staff and players.
“Everyone fights for each other. Gone are the days of looking over our shoulder at the team below us. We now look to catch the team above us and that’s Glenavon.”