Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WARD: IT’S A CALAMITY FOR CRUES
SEAN WARD insists there will be no hiding place if Crusaders continue to underperform after Stephen Baxter’s men were knocked off the league summit at Seaview.
The Crues fell to their second Premiership defeat of the season as Coleraine went top on goal difference with a 2-0 win in North Belfast.
The game was decided by two Ben Doherty penalties, the in-form Bannsiders midfielder beating Ger Doherty from the spot in the 16th minute and in added time.
Both of Crusaders’ defeats this season have been at the hands of Coleraine and the result sparked a no holds barred inquest in the home changing room.
Ward (inset) said: “We have been a very successful team in recent years and with success comes expectation. And a lot of that expectation comes from ourselves.
“When people aren’t performing or when they are making bad decisions, then we call them out on it and that’s healthy.
“Nobody is punching each other in there, which might have happened 10 years ago, but we are big enough and ugly enough to take any criticism that comes our way.”
Coleraine’s fist penalty came when Chris Hegarty tangled with Eoin Bradley and the second arrived at the death when Jordan Forsythe caught Doherty’s trailing leg.
“We had a good chat and some strong words with each other, but that’s part and parcel of football,” Ward added.
“If you ignore things that happen in a football match, you never move forward. We are still in a good position in the league so we have to regroup and go again.”