Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S BROWN TO BUSINESS
Crues ace keen to make up for their Blues beating last week
CRUSADERS defender Rodney Brown says Stephen Baxter’s players have to “take responsibility” for their Windsor walloping and put things right in today’s Irish Cup quarter-final at The Oval.
The Shore Road men head to Mersey Street smarting from last week’s painful 4-0 defeat to Danske Bank Premiership leaders Linfield in South Belfast.
Boss Baxter kept his players in the changing room for a lengthy inquest eight days ago and Brown is determined the Crues will offer up a response against the Glens.
“As players I do think we have to take responsibility for last week’s result because nobody turned up on the night,” he said.
“Linfield were very good but equally we were nowhere near the heights of some of our recent performances. It was frustrating, but we have to put it behind us.
“We owe our fans a big performance and hopefully we can repay them and give something back by reaching the semi-finals of the Irish Cup.”
The Crues, who began the calendar year in a rich vein of form with seven wins in all competitions, are suddenly on a three game losing streak.
A dispiriting League Cup final defeat to Coleraine a fortnight ago was bookended by two damaging league losses to Glenavon and David Healy’s Blues. It’s been a tough run, but I think the recent setbacks have made us realise how together we are as a team and squad,” said Brown.
“Training has been brilliant all week and our full focus since Monday has been on Glentoran and this cup tie. I sense a real determination to put things right.”
That Linfield defeat of eight days ago has left the Crues off the title pace and Brown accepts the Irish Cup may now be the Seaview club’s most realistic route into Europe.
With only three UEFA spots up for grabs, only the champions, league runners-up and Irish Cup winners qualify for European competition.
“Looking at the league table – and how far behind we are now - we probably do have to look at the Irish Cup as a way of getting into Europe,” he said. “It’s a big motivation.”
Baxter’s men did something similar last season when they sealed a place in the Europa League by lifting the Irish Cup with a 3-0 win over Ballinamallard United.
Brown, who missed last year’s showpiece through injury, said: “It would mean a lot to retain the trophy and we don’t want to hand it back without a fight.
“But we know how difficult it’s going to be. Glentoran are a top team and we’re under no illusions how tough it will be to progress.
“There’s a lot at stake, but despite recent results we’ll be going into the tie with a lot of belief and confidence because we know how good a team we can be on our day.”
We owe it to our fans to put in a big peformance - we have to put it behind us...