Declan Caddell wants Seaview to be 'a fortress' as Crusaders pick up first points of the season
Crusaders boss Declan Caddell said it was nice to get “that monkey off the back” after watching his side pick up their first points of the Premiership campaign.
The Hatchetmen came from behind to beat Ballymena United at Seaview as they registered a 2-1 win in north Belfast.
Ballymena, who started the campaign with a statement 3-0 win at Linfield last weekend, came out off the blocks fast and struck first through Igor Rutkowski’s finish.
However, Crusaders quickly levelled as the lively Owen Wardell sent a dangerous ball into the area which took a deflection off Sky Blues defender Daithi McCallion and into the net.
Soon after, the comeback was complete when Wardell took centre stage when his low finish left David Walsh with no chance, although the visitors were adamant there was a foul in the build-up.
"It's good to get three points at home," Caddell told Crusaders' social media platforms.
"We'll bank them and it's always nice to get that monkey off your back as you're always looking for those points at the start of the season.
"At this stage of the season, it's hard to judge teams and what they may or may not do.
"The only thing we could do was judge Ballymena by their performance at Linfield last week...they fielded the same team but a different formation today.
"It caught us a little bit off guard, we struggled for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but I thought we were outstanding after we got to grips with it.
"Every player on the pitch was superb today, even Lloyd Anderson who we brought on 15 minutes at the end was superb.
"Last year, conceding that early could have gone one or two ways...that's the bottom line.
"We dug in, we built our way back into the game and I thought we caused Ballymena issues, especially in wide areas.
"It was one-way traffic until maybe the last ten minutes when they fired everyone forward and put us under a bit of pressure, but you expect that.”
Crusaders will hope to back up that win with another success as they welcome Portadown to Seaview next Saturday.
"I want Seaview to be a fortress again,” Caddell claimed.
"It was too easy for teams to come last year and turn us over.
"That starts with a wee bit of hard work, a wee bit of fight, communication, organisation...all those basic things to get that result and they delivered that today.
“I know Davy (Jeffrey, Portadown manager) will have his team well-organised and well-drilled.
"Unfortunately, they haven’t got any points so far this season, so they will come here trying to get their first three points on the board.
“It’ll be a different test but what we need is what we witnessed today and more – that’s the bottom line and the bare minimum.”
CRUSADERS: Callister, Forysthe, Kelly, Blaney, Weir, Jewitt-White, Brooks, Dunlop, Doherty, Wardell, McKay.
Subs: Brown (GK) Rough, McKechnie, Bond, Maguire, Anderson, Barr.
BALLYMENA UNITED: Walsh, Toure, Whiteside, Sule, McKee, Archer, Rutkowski, Allen, McCallion, Clarke, Edogun.
Subs: Breen (GK), Rocks, Leetch, Murray, McEleney, Hood, McConnell.
Referee: Niall Devlin