We all have to think smarter and work harder says Stephen Baxter

Larne and Glentoran have been attracting most of the attention this season due to their recruitment.

And along with Linfield, they are being tipped to slug it out for the Gibson Cup.

The Crues boss is happy for the ‘Big Three’ to take all the media attention, if it means they can go under the radar.

They have shown in the past they are more than capable of upsetting the odds. And just last Saturday they produced a superb performance to inflict Larne’s first defeat of the season.

“I love the challenge. The challenge has always been one of being the underdog,” said Baxter.

“Even when we were winning a couple of titles, you guys were making us favourites and I felt like saying ‘wise up’.

“We’re a team with no boots and the great saying at the time was ‘we shop at Lidl, not Marks and Spencer’.

“That’s who we are. That’s our identity. We’re from the Shore Road, we eat beans and toast, not caviar and salmon.

“It’s never really been my way to be interested in what other people think or say.

“When we were winning things, that was great, and when we were on the way up, for me it was always about progress and players, working with players and making them better players and people.

“Also getting them into that mindset and place to challenge, grow and work within the budget of the football club and deliver.

“It’s always extra special if you can achieve something. We won our first league title probably on less than half the budget of two or three other teams at the time.

“You have to always try to produce and progress, now there’s an added expectation because of the way our league has progressed with the bigger spending.

“It used to be just Linfield, now we have Linfield, Larne and the Glens, but that’s OK.

“It’s up to other clubs like Coleraine, Ballymena, Crusaders, Glenavon and teams like that to try and stay with them.

“We have to think smarter, work harder, get better players in and try and mould them into a team that can challenge these bigger spenders.

“We have tried to hang in there, improve ourselves and I believe we have done that really well.

“I’m pleased with what we do, how we do it, but we don’t go shouting from the rooftops.

“There’s a lot going on in our league and a lot of people are spending lots of money and with that brings big expectation.

“We just get on with it and if I get a performance and the players give me their best, I’ll always be happy, win, lose or draw. If the other team is better than us we’ll shake their hand and say ‘well done’.”

The Crues are set for another stern test today when they travel to the BetMcLean Oval to take on the Glens, but again it’s one Baxter is relishing.

“It’s a huge test,” he said.

“You have to be able to meet those challenges and every point will be hard fought this year.

“Glentoran have definitely set their stall out to win the league and everybody in the country will be trying to stop them.”