Goal one of most important of Jenkins’ Ballymena career

The Scot struck with two minutes left of Friday night’s game to prevent the Sky Blues from slumping to a fifth straight defeat, having played virtually the full 90 minutes with 10 men.

“That one is right up there, in terms of importance,” said Jenkins afterwards.

“We needed that - if we had come away from the game with nothing it would have been an injustice and would have provided more ammunition for people to have a go.

“The results are there - we can’t hide from them - but I think there was a performance there that deserved at the very least a point.

“We had loads of balls into the box that just wouldn’t fall for us.

“The ball came in and I think two Carrick players headed it and it just fell for me at a perfect distance for me - about three-and-a-half yards!

“Hopefully it’s a positive step for everybody, not just the players and hopefully the crowd continue to get behind us.

“We need to carry it into Tuesday now and build once again.

“There’s no point going to Moyola Park and tossing in another lack-lustre performance and coming away with nothing.

“We need to build on it - getting 10 minutes into a game without being one behind would be a start!

“After what happened in the first minute, you just think ‘here we go again’.

“Ultimately, to rub salt in the wounds we lost our captain and we had to fight the whole game with 10 men, but fight we did and I think we got what we deserved.

“Jenkins celebrated by running to under-fire manager Glenn Ferguson and said: “It was just a wee bit of a show of togetherness on the pitch and dugout and hopefully that goes into the stands as well.

“Booing doesn’t help anybody - we can only get out of this together. It’s a start. If we had come away with nothing the jungle drums would have been beating again but it’s up to us as players to carry it on from here,” added Jenkins.