Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter believes it's important to 'live in the moment' ahead of Irish Cup final

​Baxter, who holds the current record for being world’s football longest-serving manager, has won three Irish Cup crowns so knows exactly what it takes to be successful in this competition.

Tomorrow’s decider pits the Seaview outfit against Ballymena United once again with Crusaders seeking to defend the trophy they won 12 months ago after cruelly dashing Sky Blues hopes by scoring in the final seconds of both normal and injury time.

Their previous success came with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Ballinamallard United in the 2018/19 campaign – which was the product of a late change in plans from Baxter.

"Well, I'll take you back to the Ballinamallard Irish Cup final,” he said.

"We played 4-3-3 all season long and I already planned the team for two weeks leading up to that game.

"I had 4-3-3 in my head for that whole two weeks.

"At 11am in the morning of the final, I changed it to a 3-5-2, so does it teach you anything? This game is all about gut feelings, emotion and what you see and what you experience.

"I like to live in the moment because you just don't know what might happen in the Glentoran game (their final league game), whether you might get an injury, two injuries, how the team might change or someone might play really well.

"Lots of things come into your mindset so you have to go with the moment and the players know all of that as they've worked and been around me long enough to know how we operate.

"Certain experiences help you in other key areas of the occasion - how you prepare, the whole build-up to the game in a two week period and all of that is invaluable for the preparation of a game of this magnitude.”

Crusaders come into the final having won only one of their five Danske Bank Premiership split fixtures, finishing fifth in the table and defeat to Ballymena would mean having to run the play-off gauntlet for a spot in Europe next season.

They have won three of their last five meetings with the Sky Blues – including that Windsor Park triumph – but Baxter doesn’t put much stock in previous results.

"Cup finals are cup finals and you've got to play them as the game unfolds,” he added.

"The game unfolded in a certain way last year and it'll follow its own course this year.

"It could be as tight as last year or it could be a much more open game.

"Often at times, a goal in the first ten minutes of a football match can open a game up and you get some free flowing football.

"A lot depends on how the whole thing pans out.

"Last year was last year and a lot of football has been played since that.

"You just don't know what you'll get on the day but we will prepare for a game in and around what we want to do and Ballymena will do likewise.

"We don't put a lot of emphasis on what happened before, we just have to look after what happens in the future.”