Crusaders’ cult hero Musa Dibaga admits it was a “tough decision” to leave last summer after joining Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline Athletic – and believes if they’d been able to keep their top players together for an extended period of time “you’d see a massive change”.

Dibaga ultimately spent just one season at Seaview after arriving from Inverness Caledonian Thistle but made a huge impact, playing a key role in helping Declan Caddell’s side preserve Premiership status with a promotion/relegation play-off win over Annagh United.

The 26-year-old made 16 league appearances, sharing goalkeeper duties with ex-Northern Ireland shot-stopper Jonny Tuffey.

Dibaga quickly became a fan favourite and developed a reputation as a specialist at saving penalties, denying three of seven faced in the league last term, including two in the same match against Bangor.

placeholder image — Musa Dibaga celebrates saving a decisive penalty which kept Crusaders in the Premiership. (Photo by Andrew McCarroll/Pacemaker Press)

He then saved a further two in Crusaders’ shoot-out win over Annagh which kept them in Northern Ireland’s top-flight.

It was that form which attracted attention from former Northern Ireland ace Lennon, who sealed Dibaga’s Scotland return in July.

Lennon has looked to the Irish League for talent across recent windows with Shea Kearney and Callumn Morrison joining last season while Kian Corbally arrived from Ballymena United last summer.

Dibaga has featured in just one Scottish Championship match for Dunfermline this season with Aston Oxborough currently preferred by Lennon, but he has enjoyed the experience of working under the ex-Celtic boss.

"It was a tough decision (to leave Crusaders) because I was starting to become a number one there,” Dibaga told the News Letter. “But coming to Dunfermline, which is a great club in Scotland, was a motivation to step up my level as well.

"It's obviously a big step up for me and it’s great working under Neil Lennon. Dunfermline did great last year...so far it's been very good.

“Neil is another big name...in my short career I have now worked with him and Duncan Ferguson!

"I still follow Crusaders on Facebook, I watch out for their scores every weekend.

"The Crusaders fans were one of the best things because even last year when we had a bad run, they always showed up and showed support for the players until the last day, which was amazing.”

Caddell has identified top talent throughout his Crues reign with Kieran Offord, Fraser Bryden, Adam Brooks and Dibaga all benefitting from time spent in north Belfast.

The Seaview chief has had to deal with losing his best players across recent windows and Dibaga sympathises with the position his former boss is in.

"I was one of the oldest last season and I was only 25,” added Dibaga. “That tells you it was a young squad.

"You could see last year was a struggle, but this year they have started the season pretty well with a couple of big wins.

"We had good names in the team – Fraser, Adam, Fin (Thorndike) got a move to Ballymena so you could tell there was a lot of quality.

"I just know that if you keep that team together for a couple of years you'll see a massive change, but when you do have a good season, quickly other teams come and get all the players.

"Decky gave us a platform...once you get a good platform, you can get a good move. It’s hard to keep the players.”