MANAGER'S VERDICT: David Johnstone's 'pride in the shirt' message which helped inspire positive Loughgall result

Jordan Stewart came off the bench for the Crues and scored with his first touch, but the Villagers responded in the closing stages, taking full advantage of a defensive error with Magee making no mistake.

Here’s what Johnstone had to say after the match at Seaview:

MUST BE HAPPY WITH THE POINT – WILL IT BE HELPFUL (IN RACE FOR SURVIVAL)?

"Only time will tell – all we could do today was try and pick up something from the game and that was the aim.

"We’ve done that so you have to be satisfied when you come to a very good Crusaders team that have been in good form...getting anything here is bonus, given where we are with confidence low and favourites for relegation.

"There’s a lot of mental aspects to the game today – can we stay in the game long enough, can we defend well enough, and then can we take our chances when they come...all three of those the guys did so they deserve huge credit.

"In truth, we could have nicked it with a bit of composure. There was a four on two right at the end and in training you probably score nine times out of 10 in that situation, but it was the wrong pass selection and the chance went away.

"I’m satisfied with the point. Obviously Carrick picked up a point too so we’re as you were, but we’ll go into the next game and see where it takes us.”

MANAGER DESERVES CREDIT FOR TWO SUBS (ROBBIE MAHON AND BENJI MAGEE) THAT CHANGED THE GAME?

"The management team deserve credit, not just the manager.

"I’ve known Fergie (Steven Ferguson) and Darragh (Peden) for years. We chatted about the options and that was a straightforward option to get Robbie on.

"He is a very good player who has been dealing with a knock...he has quality and Benji is Benji.

"Even when Benji isn’t 100%, which he wasn’t today and why he didn’t start, but we knew if we could get Benji high up the pitch that he’s a goalscorer.

"He’s one of those players that defenders will be afraid of with his reputation and we thought he could get something down the middle which is exactly what happened – it was a great pass by Robbie.

"Sometimes you make substitutions and they work, which it did today and every player that came on played their part so we have to be happy.”

WHAT HAS THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?

"It has been extremely busy! This is football and I’ve been in the game long enough, these situations happen every so often.

"We’ve had a phenomenal eight years under Dean Smith and he deserves huge credit and plaudits for what he did over those years – promotion, what a season last year and the success means the pressure builds when you don’t do it again.

"Football people understand that he raised the bar so high last year that it was going to be very difficult to do it again this year.

"You lose games, the pressure mounts and it leads to a challenging situation. You get on with it one day at a time.”

WHAT HAS BEEN THE MESSAGE TO PLAYERS THIS WEEK?

"We knew how the Crues were going to play and we worked hard on attacking – there’s no point working on defending, we need goals.

"We set up attacking today with five attackers in the team and we drilled that on Tuesday night, worked on a few things on Thursday and it was all about capitalising high up the pitch.

"That’s where we have to put our time and effort at the minute. Ultimately the players have to go across the white line and all we’ve asked the players to do is show pride in the shirt.

"As we said to the players, they are the custodians of the shirt right now so you make sure you leave a legacy that is worth looking back on.

"A lot of great men have worn the jersey over the years and great men will wear it in years to come, so we want them to focus on what they do in their time in the shirt on the pitch and leave the other noise.”