IRISH LEAGUE: Baxter's praise for patient Crusaders as Dykes is left searching for solution to Ballinamallard goals shortage

The 3-0 success on New Year’s Day pushed the Crues into top spot in the Danske Bank Premiership standings over Coleraine.

However, Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter refused to get too excited by the position at the head of the table.

“It’s nice to be top of the table, but we only took three points,” said Baxter. “We were in this position last year, maybe even a bit more in front, so we take nothing for granted.

“It is only about adding another three points on the board and seeing where it takes you.

“Ballinamallard today, to be in the position they are currently in, bamboozles me because they are a way better team than they are showing.

“They will get the break of the ball and in the second half of the season you’ll see them climb up the table.

“We were playing on a quagmire of a pitch and nobody could keep their feet.

“That’s always going to be a leveller, so it takes a while to find your way into a game like that.

“I thought we had the stranglehold on the game even in the first half and I told the players to be patient and the opportunities would present themselves.

“We scored three and probably could have had another three.

“It was always about patience today and when we saw the pitch we said to be patient and not make mistakes.

“By and large we coped with the conditions really well.

“I knew the Christmas programme would be tough, with four games in nine days, but with maximum points.”

Crusaders’ praise will offer little consolation to Ballinamallard United boss Gavin Dykes as he continues in search of a reward for some positive play.

“They are a good side and I think they are getting better,” said Dykes. “I thought the first half we did well and were well in the game.

“We lost Ryan O’Reilly at half-time with a hamstring and we can’t afford to lose players like that.

“I can’t fault them, we’ve had a very tough Christmas and I’m disappointed we didn’t pick up more points.

“We’ll add a few bodies, get a few more players in and get a bit of energy into us and the season starts for us now.

“They are a good sidem we were lacking a bit up front and we’re bringing in a few bodies that will help that.

“Hopefully we can get scoring goals.

“We’ve got to score goals, that was the one thing against Carrick, we scored two goals.

“We had a gameplan today, Stuart Hutchinson was going to play right-back and he failed a fitness test in the warm-up and we lose O’Reilly at half-time.

“When you’re down there things are going against you, we won’t feel sorry for ourselves.

“We’ll keep going and be positive.

“There are a huge couple of weeks ahead, we’ve got to get ourselves back in and hopefully pick up some points.”