Stephen Baxter concerned by Crusaders' worrying habit

In four out of their last five games the Crues have conceded the first goal of the game.

It has led to them being dumped out of the County Antrim Shield and League Cup in quick succession.

Linfield, who visit Seaview tonight, knocked Baxter’s men out of the shield before Dundela pulled off the shock of the round in midweek to send the Crues packing in the cup.

Baxter admitted the worrying trend has been causing the coaching staff to “pull their hair out”, and he is hoping they can put an end to it sooner rather than later.

“It’s been the tale of our season really to date,” he told Crues TV.

“We’re only really up and running but we’ve been giving teams a goal start.

“Then you’re having to press so hard to try and get yourself back into the game.

“We’ve done it a few times in the European game and against Portadown, but giving teams a goal start is never a good thing to do.

“It’s something we’re working on tirelessly. A couple of our coaching staff are tearing their hair out.

“It’s not just centre halves or full backs, it’s the whole team as you defend as a team and we haven’t done that job as well as we would have liked.

“We were very tight at the back last year and we built on good performances and clean sheets.

“We were looking for more goals this season, and we’re getting that, but we haven’t sorted the other part of the game out right now and need to do that quickly.

“We need to tighten up and that’s something we’ll all be working very hard on.”

Tuesday night’s defeat at Wilgar Park was disappointing for the Crues with Baxter admitting they only had themselves to blame.

“We put the ball in the right areas and forced so many smart saves from the keeper, but we didn’t get the ball over the line,” he said.

“Dundela had their game plan and fair play to them. They fought for every ball, they were very good at, so congratulations to them.”