Declan Caddell hails 'character' of young Crusaders squad after responding to testing time
Crusaders manager Declan Caddell has hailed the character of his young squad after they bounced back from a tough period to string together a three-game unbeaten run ahead of Friday’s Irish Cup trip to Coleraine.
Prior to their 2-1 Boxing Day triumph over rivals Cliftonville, Caddell’s men had lost five consecutive league matches, failing to score in each and suffered back-to-back 4-0 defeats against Portadown and Linfield.
Saturday’s impressive 2-0 win over high-flying Dungannon Swifts, which was preceded by collecting a point against Carrick Rangers, means the Crues have opened up daylight between themselves and basement club Glenavon.
Caddell’s men are now 12 points clear of the Lurgan Blues and five better off than Carrick, drawing level on 24 points with Ballymena United.
Six of Crusaders’ weekend starting line-up were aged 21 or under with Oli McCart and Josh Williamson, who are both 18, running their midfield.
Another teenager, 17-year-old Matthew Beattie, was introduced off the bench while 20-year-old Cameron Bruce became Caddell’s first January transfer incoming from Airdrie.
Caddell knew the age profile of his squad would bring inconsistent results, but he’s delighted with how they’ve responded to tough times.
"I don’t think you see it at any other club in the Irish League,” he said. “It probably shows you the gulf in terms of depth and injuries that we have.
"It’s testament to the boys, they stepped up and were counted like men (against Dungannon) regardless of their age.
"They’ve bright futures ahead of them and it’s great to start the year like we have and we move onto another tough game on Friday.
"The players have showed character. If anybody thought I was coming into the season thinking we weren’t going to take a 3-0 or 4-0 drubbing at some stage, they were mistaken – it’s going to happen with younger players.
"The flip side is they have the ability to turn it on, as they did on Boxing Day against Cliftonville and against Dungannon. They have the ability and it’s about growing in confidence for them.
"We’ll welcome a few bodies back to help out, but I’m happy with where we are, especially over the last three matches.”
Crusaders have been handed a difficult Irish Cup fifth round trip to the Bannsiders, who signed Shelbourne captain Mark Coyle on Thursday.
Ruaidhri Higgins’ men have lost three of their last four matches and Caddell is aware they’ll be looking for a reaction.
"It's always a tough game against Coleraine,” he added. “Whether it's cup or league, I treat every game exactly the same.
"It's a welcome distraction in a different competition. It's 90 minutes of football and the best team goes through to the next round.
"We have to be at our best. They're a good side, they hammered us here at the start of the season. Last game, I thought they were holding on a wee bit and we should have got something out of the game.
"They had a bad result (against Larne last Friday night) and Ruaidhri will be demanding a response, especially with it being the Irish Cup in front of a big crowd...we're going to have to raise our levels again.”