Busy diary is taking toll on tired Crues, says Baxter

CRUSADERS may have booked their ticket to the first domestic final of the season, but manager Stephen Baxter insisted his boys were nowhere near their best.

Jordan Owens’ first-half goal against a gritty Carrick Rangers side at Seaview on Tuesday earned the Shore Road team a place in the Toals County Antrim Shield decider, and they will now face David Jeffrey’s Ballymena United on January 23.

But having come through a hectic month, competing in four different competitions, Baxter believes his team looked tired for the first time this season.

The Crues still have a League Cup semi-final at Dungannon Swifts before they go on their travels in February to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the last four of the IRN-BRU Cup.

They are also desperately chasing down leaders Coleraine in the Danske Bank Premiership, having cut the gap to six points with a game in hand.

Little wonder the north Belfast team are feeling the strain.

“We had seven of our top players injured for the Carrick game, so we had to bring in a number of players who maybe haven’t played a lot of football of late,” said Baxter.

“In saying that, I thought we had enough about us. We created all the big chances over the course of the night. We did what we had to do to get into the final. But I have to say it was a tired performance.

“I think it was one game too far for some of our boys. We have been at this hot and heavy now (competing on four fronts) over the past number of weeks — the games have been coming thick and fast.

Job done: Jordan Owens (right) is congratulated by Howard Beverland after his Seaview winner

“There was a tiredness in their legs and some of our senior players admitted they were knackered. That’s fair enough because of the amount of effort they give you every single week.

“We’ve been playing a lot of big games. We had a leg-sapper on a very heavy pitch at Coleraine at the weekend, so that took its toll.

“But our tired performance was still better than Carrick’s performance, so we have to be happy with that. It’s great to be in another final.

“That’s what we set out to do at the start of the season, to contest the major trophies. We have another few semi-finals coming up, so hopefully we can march on.”

Baxter stresses his immediate focus is now on the league game against Glentoran at Seaview this weekend.

He said: “I just hope we can get a few bodies back. Glentoran may not be getting the results they want at this moment in time, but bad runs don’t interest me. I’m only concerned with what we do.

“We’ll be approaching the game differently this week because of the heavy schedule. The boys will all be in ice baths on Thursday night. They will not be on the training park, I can assure you. It’s now all about recovery.

“We need to get the energy back into the legs because it’s been a real tough four weeks, although

it has been a brilliant four weeks. Our form has been sensational. You can’t win four and five every week. Sometimes you’ve got to scrap it out as we did against Carrick.

“They gave us a feisty challenge and put it up to us and they gave their manager a response to their poor performances over the last couple of weeks.”

Defender Howard Beverland is the latest concern for Baxter after being taken off on Tuesday.

“Howard has been carrying a hip injury for the past couple of weeks,” added Baxter.

“He took a little knock on the hip again, but we got him off early simply as a precaution.”