Declan Caddell feels it's 'too early' for relegation talk as Crusaders look to escape 'vicious circle'

The Crues’ winless league run extended to six matches on Saturday afternoon after they were beaten 5-2 by North Belfast rivals Cliftonville.

With basement club Glenavon picking up their first away victory of the season at Bangor, Michael O’Connor’s men cut the gap to Crusaders, who occupy the promotion/relegation play-off position, to seven points with nine games remaining.

Crusaders have finished inside the Premiership’s top-half for 17 consecutive seasons, including winning three titles under Stephen Baxter, but a period of change at Seaview has resulted in a drop down the table.

Caddell has been tasked to change the club’s squad profile, putting an emphasis on youth – Jordan Forsythe was the only player aged above 30 who featured on Saturday – and looking to Scotland for talent.

Crusaders currently sit three points behind 10th-placed Ballymena United, who have one game in hand, while a gap of seven has opened up to Bangor in ninth.

Caddell maintains full faith his side can get themselves out of their precarious position and is seeking a positive result to kick-start a charge.

"I think it's too early to say (if we’re in trouble),” he said. "You're looking for a kick-start.

"Today was a perfect opportunity to kick-start things, we didn't take it...it's been that way for probably about a month, to be honest.

"You're looking that wee start, something to move you forward and get a bit of momentum.

"Each week we haven't got it, you get pulled into a vicious circle...we just need a wee bit of luck to change things.”

A major cause for Crusaders concern is their defensive record – Caddell’s men have conceded a league-high 63 goals this term, collecting three clean sheets in 29 matches, while they’ve leaked four or more goals on eight occasions.

While a lack of experience is often pointed to for their poor return, Caddell insists it’s basic mistakes his side are failing to learn from.

"People talk about the lack of experience that we have,” he added. “For me, experience is that communication aspect, talking the boys through a game, how to manage a game as it develops, not when to clear a ball, how to mark a man, what space to defend.

"Every player should know (the basics) playing at this level.

"It's probably the same interview every week, they seem to be the same questions and it's time and time again, you feel like a broken record.

"It's schoolboy goals. Second goal, the header at the front post, one man is on the post, one man in the hole, you should never concede a header from that area of the football pitch.

"For whatever reason, we weren’t set up properly...it's poor and it's basics. That's the most frustrating thing for me, it's basics of football and basics of defending.”

Cliftonville raced into a 2-0 lead after just eight minutes through goals from Brian Healy and Luke Conlan with Crusaders never able to recover.

"For me, the first goal probably killed any plan we had in terms of the game,” said Caddell. "It's a blatant foul on Scot Rough, blatant foul, for whatever reason the referee doesn't give it, I don't know.

"We struggled for 10-15 minutes after it, you're 2-0 down within 10 minutes, and you don't get to grow into the game after that.

"We got it back to 2-1, reset at half-time, and once again, we shoot ourselves in the foot after half-time. It's not good enough.”