Bever say never but it’s Howard to see a way back for us

Ballymena Utd 3 Crusaders 0 BY KEN LAGAN

CRUSADERS defender Howard Beverland admits the Seaview club is “hurting” at the prospect of their title dream going up in the smoke.

The champions and long-time League leaders were unseated by a 3-0 loss at Ballymena United on Saturday.

With just one game to go, the

Crues must beat Glenavon at home this weekend and hope derby rivals Cliftonville defeat new leaders Linfield at

Solitude.

“It’s swung a huge way towards Linfield now,” said

Beverland. “We’re hugely disappointed and we’ll be hurting until we get back out to the training pitch on Tuesday.

“In the changing room, we maybe feel it is over, but technically it isn’t and the title hasn’t been handed out yet. We have to do a professional job against Glenavon.

“We’ll refocus at the start of the week, target three points in the final game and hope things go our way elsewhere.”

On the prospect of Crusaders seeking a rare favour from their fiercest rivals, Beverland said: “Cliftonville need to go out and play for themselves, first and foremost.

“They are still playing for home advantage in the (Europa League) play-offs. They also pride themselves in beating any opposition, so I’m sure they’ll go out and do a professional job.

“Of course, we’ll be hoping the game swings their way, but we have another job to do and that’s against Glenavon. We have to make sure we win that game.”

The Crues, seeking a third straight title, were behind on 71 minutes when United winger Conor Mccloskey swept a Cathair Friel (inset) cross into the roof of the net.

It got worse for the visitors four minutes from time when Friel fired into an empty net after goalkeeper Sean O’neill was caught dallying outside the area. Friel added a third in added time when strike partner Johnny Mcmurray raced clear to tee him up for a

cool finish past the sprawling keeper.