WHAT THE MANAGER SAID: 'You have to be happy' - Declan Caddell celebrates Crusaders joint third after hard-fought away win
Crusaders now share third place in the Sports Direct Premiership, level on points with Dungannon Swifts thanks to Daniel Larmour’s first-half finish to see off Glenavon at Mourneview Park.
Here’s the verdict of Crusaders manager Declan Caddell:
OVERALL PERFORMANCE...
"You have to be happy...a win this time of the season no matter what way it comes.
"Glenavon are a good side, flying high on a crest of a wave with a good run together.
"It's a difficult place to come, the pitch wasn't great, probably as a spectacle (the game) wasn't the best...quite direct from both teams.
"But what I've realised with my players, the last number of weeks, is we're always finding that way to win and we found it today.
"To be fair to Glenavon, they probably threw everything at us the last 10 minutes.
"They put us under pressure and we dug in and defended for our lives."
HOME PENALTY APPEALS...
"We probably rode our luck the first half, probably a couple of decisions went for us...I'd need to see them back.
"It's hard to tell, it was close (penalty appeal for foul on David McDaid)...there's no doubt, whether it was inside or outside I need to see it back.
"I don't know...listen, decisions sometimes go for you or go against you, we've been on the end of decisions against us, it's swings and roundabouts.
"You get some, you don't get some, they usually level themselves out.”
DECISIVE GOAL...
"We got the goal against the run of play, for me.
"I thought Glenavon were the team on top first half.
"Second half we came out much better...we could've scored straight on (Jordan Stewart) and we'd Josh O'Connor through one-on-one.
"We probably had the better share of clearcut opportunities, which we didn't take.
"Daniel Larmour, who came back into the team today, comes up with the match-winner.
"We've really good headers of the ball...five or six 6ft 2 players, so we're always a threat in situations like that (a free-kick).
"We attack with aggression, thankfully, it's just fallen for him to knock it in."
FORM...
"We're on a nice wee run of form but take nothing for granted...four, five weeks ago we were sitting 10th.
"Now we're joint with Dungannon in third place.
"Things can change very, very quickly, we're well aware of that (but) the last two weeks have been good, that's six points out of two difficult games.
"We're finding ways to win...a lot of times this season we've lost when, for me, we've been the better team and created chances but come away beat.
"This game's all about winning and getting results.”
SQUAD DEPTH...
"January was really difficult, I think we had eight games and in terms of training sessions we'd probably eight or nine training out of a squad of 22.
"That's the situation we were in and now, all of a sudden, you're starting to get players back from injury.
"Now there's a bit of competition for players and it's good to have, as a manager, those headaches of who to play.
"I made two or three changes today from a winning team last week just to get a result.
"Thankfully we managed to do that."