Stephen Baxter: I hope Crusaders did our fans proud with Europa Conference League draw in Finland

Jordan Forsythe opened the scoring in Finland but Haka struck back twice before half-time to enter the break with a 2-1 advantage.

The game changed when the hosts were reduced to 10-men as midfielder Janne-Pekka Laine was shown a second yellow card and almost immediately after that incident, Ross Clarke scored an equaliser for the Seaview outfit.

Crusaders had 10 attempts on goal throughout the match – twice as many as Haka – and although they couldn’t find what would have been a welcome winner, Baxter is excited about the return-leg in Belfast next week with progression a real possibility.

"Once we worked them out, what they were doing and how they were doing it, we had to figure out a bit around Adam Lecky and Ben (Kennedy) and see how they'd see off the runs when they were coming forward and make sure our shape was tight,” he told CruesTV. “We said once we got to grips with the ball that we would work it quickly and get it into areas higher up the pitch quicker and get the team forward.

"Normally you'll sit off and say you'll absorb it, but it wasn't the night to do that. We saw the chink and wanted to go after them a bit and put them under pressure, and we did that.

"We're under no illusions, this team can pass the ball. Their midfielders and wide players are exceptional and we have to be alive to that.

"We have to make sure we don't think the job is done - it's far, far from done. We have to roll our sleeves up and work probably even harder than we have.

"Given that we're two or three games into our season and this team is halfway through theirs, it was great.

"I'm proud of the team, proud of the fanbase that weighed in here with 40 or 50 people making a huge commitment and gave us a little bit of backing and noise.

"I said before we went out on the pitch that we're totally doing it for them and I hope we did the fans proud."