Declan Caddell believes Scottish success stories should provide inspiration for 'rough diamonds' to choose Crusaders
Crusaders manager Declan Caddell believes the success stories of Scottish stars Kieran Offord and Jacob Blaney should provide inspiration for “rough diamonds” to choose Seaview as they look to take their game to the next level.
Not many Irish League followers were aware of Offord before he arrived at the Crues on loan from St Mirren ahead of the current campaign, but they quickly got to know him with the 21-year-old impressing by scoring 10 goals in 21 Premiership appearances.
That form caught the attention of Linfield, who paid a six-figure transfer fee to sign Offord in January and he has since celebrated winning a maiden Gibson Cup with the Blues.
Blaney has also been a star performer since joining on a permanent deal from Hibernian with the 20-year-old racking up 31 league appearances before suffering an injury which has kept him out of Crusaders’ last three matches.
With Caddell left to rue a lack of cutting edge in attack at various times this season – Crusaders have scored the fewest goals (44) of any side in the Premiership’s top-six – he admits it’s important to find hidden gems, but knows how hard that task will be.
"Kieran did well for us and has moved on to Linfield,” said Caddell. “Now you have to find the next one.
"We have good players here in Jay Boyd, Stewart Nixon, Josh O’Connor...Jay and Josh are a bit younger but Stewart has shown in the last few weeks what he is about.
"You’re trying to find those rough diamonds that not a lot of people know about because every team in the league is looking for that killer centre-forward.
"I think we have the highest percentage of minutes for 16-20-year-olds in the league this season and that’s where the club is going.
"There will be opportunities for lads to do well.
"My standout has been Jacob Blaney this season...he has hurt his shoulder now but he has been outstanding since he came, Harry Jewitt-White will be looking at this as a stepping stone for the next big thing in their careers.
"We’re willing to give them that opportunity.
"There’s a lot of quality teams in the league.
"With the amount of young players that have been bled in, the change in coaching staff, the injury crisis we’ve had almost the whole season, I think top-six is a good return.”
Last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Glentoran means Crusaders’ only route into European football, just like Saturday’s opponents Coleraine, is now through the end-of-season Premiership play-offs.
Outside of champions Linfield, virtually every other team has struggled for consistency at stages of this season and Caddell wants to gain some crucial momentum heading into an important part of the campaign.
"We’re all looking for momentum, it took a big dent (against Glentoran) but I think back to the last time we were beaten like this by Dungannon and we were able to put together a strong run after it,” added Caddell. "The players are hurting, I’m hurting, and it’s about picking ourselves up, galvanising and going again.
"There are three weeks left of the season – we’ve no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it.”