Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter delighted to have defender Josh Robinson back in the fold

​In what was the first 90 minutes Robinson had played in the Premiership since April’s stalemate against Linfield, the 30-year-old was called into action with Rory McKeown missing due to a knee injury and he played his part in keeping a sixth league clean sheet of the season.

Their 2021/22 Irish Cup final goal hero has been working his way back to fitness with the Crues’ U20 side, playing five times for them alongside scoring as Stephen Baxter’s men defeated Warrenpoint Town 5-0 in the BetMcLean Cup earlier this month.

After coming on as a substitute against Larne in their previous Premiership outing, Robinson could continue his run in the heart of defence this afternoon when Crusaders travel to Dungannon Swifts.

"Josh Robinson having been out for six or nine months stepped in,” Baxter told the club’s media channel. “He hasn't had a lot of games behind him - he had a few games with the U20s and did some training,

"Rory McKeown has unfortunately picked up a bad knee injury and he had to be ready and he had to play.

"He did exceptionally well.

"He grew into the game and started putting his head on balls and getting us out of there.

"That was the type of game it was against Ballymena where we had to dig it out.

"It wasn't like the Larne game where the ball was on the floor and moving around at a fast pace.

"It was a night where you had to put your body on the line, see it through and make sure you held onto that 1-0 lead."

The Seaview outfit are now unbeaten in four matches across all competitions while only Linfield and Cliftonville can boast a better goal return this term than their 28 in 12 matches.

Stangmore Park has been a happy hunting ground for them in recent times with the visitors winning all of their last four league encounters at the County Tyrone venue, including when Philip Lowry and Daniel Larmour netted in a 2-0 victory 12 months ago.

Rodney McAree’s men are coming off last Friday’s stalemate with defending champions Larne.