Linfield ready for Crusaders threat in Irish Cup

At present the Blues are top of the Danske Bank Premiership, they will also face the Crues in the County Antrim Shield Final before taking on Ballymena United in the BetMcLean Cup Final and they are still in the Irish Cup.

Even though the Blues are on the hunt of a clean sweep of trophies defender Chris Casement insists no-one at Windsor Park is getting carried away.

“We are going on four fronts, it’s a difficult thing to do. It’s the old cliché . . . we’ve just got to take each game as it comes. It’s a long hard season.

“You just don’t know what’s around the corner in terms of injury and suspension, as the Roy Carroll injury would suggest.

“I don’t think anyone would be naïve enough to say we’ll win all four tournaments – we’ll just have to take one game at a time. We are very together as a group, both on and off the pitch.”

Casement believes the Blues can take a lot of heart from their midweek performance – especially as they came back off the ropes when the Glens fought back to equalise early in the second half.

“It was probably good for the neutral, not so good for us when they pulled it back to 2-2,” he went on.

“Fair play to Glentoran they came out and had a right go . . . they manager Gary Smyth got a reaction from his team.

“They made it difficult for us for a 20-minute spell or so. But for the other 70 minutes, we were by far the better team – and we certainly deserved to win it.

“I was delighted to get on the score sheet for a change. “Kearnsie (Daniel Kearns) played a great little reverse pass for my goal. It fell nicely for me. I was delighted to see it go in.

“The way they set up, it allowed Niall (Quinn) and I get forward quite a lot down both flanks.

“Last year was difficult for me personally and for the club collectively.

“We knew it wasn’t good enough . . . and we knew we had to improve this season.

“The gaffer brought in a few new signings and we knew what our goals were right from the off. We are still working towards that.

“We can’t afford to take our foot off the gas.”

And manager David Healy admits that his side will have to be at their best when they tackle the Crues even though they beat them 1-0 in the league in January.

“Again they have been the team we all have been chasing these last few years and they are a good side.

“They will be hurting from the last time we met and they will be looking for redemption and revenge so we have to match that or be better than that and get the job done.”

And Crusaders wil be looking to get one over their rivals as they reach the business end of the season.

The Crues have got themselves into third place in the league rankings and only trail leaders Linfield by nine points but there are still a number of games left to play.

So a win in the Irish Cup over the Blues may give them a mental edge heading into their County Antrim Shield Final encounter next week and for the remainder of the league campaign.

They were impressive winners against Institute last weekend and assistant manager Jeff Spiers says they are clicking into gear at the right time.

“We got the right response from the boys and when we were 3-0 up at half-time against Institute we probably took our foot off the pedal in the second half, when we were looking a few more goals, but we had done enough in the first half.

“We are still in the race with Linfield and Ballymena and there’s a lot of football still to be played between now and the end of the season.

“It will be tough in the Cup against Linfield but we are keen to progress.”