'We won all 11 battles', claims Stephen Baxter after Crusaders' Irish Cup victory against Glentoran

A solitary goal from Jordan Forsythe on 29 minutes would ultimately prove to be the difference as the holders ended Glentoran’s chances of winning any silverware this season.

The Glens didn’t overly trouble Jonny Tuffey throughout the game but will rue an early missed opportunity as Shay McCartan struck the post on eight minutes.

However, Crusaders never looked like conceding thereafter and could have added to their tally as Forysthe and Ross Clarke had goal bound efforts blocked, with in-form Philip Lowry arrowing wide after being picked out inside the box.

"Before the game we had talked about doing our jobs and it was 11 v 11 and we had to win the 11 battles,” Baxter said.

"I came off the pitch and I said to the team that I thought we had won all 11.

"Everyone had a job and had to win their battle and we won them all.

"When you do that you've every chance of winning a football match.

"Games like this here when it's a full house, the atmosphere is electric, everything is on a knife-edge as there's so much at stake it produces nervy type football.

"It took the game time to settle down, there were a lot of tackles flying in, but we got to grips better with it than them.

"We were in their half and had them under a lot of pressure, they were struggling to deal with that from the get-go.

"For 30 minutes we really worked them in the first half, got the goal and nearly got in for a second.

"We had them right where we wanted them.

"I thought 10 minutes before half time they started to come back into the game a little bit.

"I think they threw caution to the wind in the second half, but we coped admirably with it.

"We did what we had to do, we were bold and strong and dealt with everything we had to and won the game pretty much at a canter."

Long-serving Baxter revealed that he had made tactical changes for the contest – even though they led to a lack of sleep in the build-up.

"We made two adjustments to the set-up today compared to how we normally play to try and nullify them and how they might come at us,” he continued.

"In doing that we were able to take the game in the way we wanted to them.

"I thought about it all week and it gave me sleepless nights, I even doubted myself when I woke up on Saturday morning, but it proved to be the right decision and we got ourselves over the line and into another semi-final.

"In the cup it's a winner takes all system, you've no comeback, you're either in it or you're out."

CRUSADERS: Tuffey, Burns, Robinson, Weir, Lowry, Lecky, Forsythe, Winchester (Clarke '46 mins), Larmour, Heatley (Owens '90 mins), McKeown.

Subs Not Used: Murphy (GK), Hegarty, Ebbe, Caddell, Thompson.

GLENTORAN: McCarey, Kane, McCullough, Wilson, Burns (Purkis '74 mins), McCartan (Wightman '59 mins), Marshall, J. Donnelly (Uzokwe '80 mins), Singleton, Devlin, McMenamin.

Subs Not Used: Webber (GK), R. Donnelly, Crowe, Plum.

Referee: Ian McNabb