Crues call Caddell out of retirement to ease injury crisis

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LINFIELD skipper Jamie Mulgrew will have gone into Saturday’s clash against Crusaders expecting a tough challenge.

What he might not have been prepared for was to be sent flying up in the air by an old adversary who had hung up his boots at the end of last season.

But that’s exactly what happened when Mulgrew tried to surge forward only to be unceremoniously dumped by a late lunge from Declan Caddell towards the end of the first half at Windsor Park.

A turgid stalemate will perhaps be best remembered for the surprise reappearance of a Crusaders legend, who retired in the summer to focus on his role as academy director at Seaview.

Seven minutes after going on for the injured Robbie Weir, Caddell clattered into Mulgrew, earning a booking for his troubles.

The 34-year-old said: “When I went to make the tackle

I felt ‘I’m getting there all day’ but when I realised I wasn’t it was too late!

“It was a wee bit of rustiness.”

The midfielder answered an SOS call from stretched Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter, who said: “In all my days managing in football, I’ve never seen the likes of this in terms of injuries.”

Caddell revealed: “When I decided to retire I had a conversation with Stephen not long after and he said ‘Listen, would you mind re-registering in case of emergencies?’, and I said alright, not thinking I’d ever be needed.

“But I was a bit shocked that I got the message on Friday night to say I was involved here and when I saw Robbie Weir going off I was thinking ‘Oh dear!’. “But I enjoyed it. “As long as Stephen needs me, I’m here for him and the club.”

One man who didn’t enjoy a single thing about the evening was Linfield boss David Healy, who was scathing in his criticism of the game and of the Windsor Park playing surface. “It was an horrendous game. A really poor standard from both teams,” said Healy (inset).

“I’m sure they’ll be delighted with the outcome, especially the way it panned out, but from our point of view, we didn’t do enough, didn’t work the goalkeeper enough and that’s why it was crap and finished 0-0.

“The state of the pitch was horrific and people should be embarrassed that that’s our national stadium.

“Quite frankly, the people who maintain and look after the pitch should be absolutely hiding because that pitch is disgraceful.

“If somebody was watching that game from afar, they’d be thinking ‘what the hell is that cabbage patch all about?’.”

“Both teams still should have played better, but we didn’t offer enough going forward and when we did go forward, we didn’t do enough with it.”