Jarlath O’Rourke’s fine finish late on was ‘the icing on the cake’ for Declan Caddell as Crusaders beat Ballymena United 3-1 at Seaview.
The 30-year-old full-back was at the heart of this hard-fought victory, setting up the first two goals before rifling past Sean O’Neill with his right foot in the 89th minute to claim the points.
The Crues manager admitted his side had a bit of luck on the day and that was certainly the case with the opening goal.
O’Rourke’s 14th minute corner from the right dropped to the back post where it bounced off 19-year-old defender Conor Barr into the net.
Seven minutes later O’Rourke’s free kick allowed Jordan Forsythe to put Blaney in with a deft touch and the Scottish right back poked past the exposed O’Neill.
Two minutes later the Sky Blues pulled one back from the penalty spot through Patrick McEleney after Forsythe bundled Andy Scott over in the box.
The game was littered with yellow cards – eight for Crusaders, two for Ballymena – and in the second half the visitors pressed the Crues hard in search of an equaliser.
But O’Rourke settled it when Harry Franklin played a beautiful dummy that allowed Harry Jewitt-White to feed the Dungannon man to his left and O’Rourke cut inside to make space for a delightful arced finish.
“Jarlath had two assists today and the third goal was the icing on the cake for him,” said Caddell.
“He’ll get the credit but credit to Harry Jewitt-White too, he started the move in our box and played the pass for Jarly to score.
“It was a tough game. Were we at our best? No, far from it. But we took our chances when they came.
“The first two were two set plays and I thought we were fortunate with both of them, definitely the first and probably the second as well.
“Then we conceded the penalty soon after. For me there was a foul on Jacob Blaney just before they got the penalty, it wasn’t given and the penalty gave Ballymena a lifeline.
“I thought they were excellent, they played really, really well, kept the ball well, kept it moving and they had a threat going forward.
“We had to dig in in the second half and I thought we then looked dangerous on the break in the second half.
“We might have had one or two more before we scored the last goal so I’m happy.
“Listen, any win is important, any three points is important at this time in the season.”
Ballymena midfielder Josh Carson was unavailable through injury despite winning his case against the IFA this week and manager Jim Ervin was also suspended.
First team coach Andrew Law stepped up to take care of proceedings in north Belfast and felt the Sky Blues once again did not get a fair return for their endeavours.
“We controlled the game for the first 20 minutes, so to concede a set play was really disappointing,” said Law.
“Conceding a second from a free kick was frustrating as well but we pulled one back and we were well and truly on top in the second half until they scored a third, and I think that was their only shot on target in the second half.
“We’ve been really good over the last couple of weeks; a good performance against Larne, good performance against Linfield and a good performance at Seaview, but we’re going to have to start turning performances into results.”
Crusaders: Tuffey 7, Callacher 7, Lowry 6, Jewitt-White 7, Blaney 7, Forsythe 6 (Weir 64 6), O’Rourke 8, Smith 5 (Franklin 57 6), Clarke 6, Boyd 7 (Stewart 76 6), L Barr 6.
Subs not used: Brown, Williamson, Larmour, O’Connor.
Ballymena United: O’Neill 6, Lafferty 6, Jarvis 7, Scott 7 (McCurry 64 6), O’Donnell 7, Edogun 7, Loughran 6, McEleney 6, Corbally 6, C Barr 6, Idehan 7.
Subs not used: Johnston, Gawne, Moore, McMullan, McCallion, Hood.
Referee: Shane McGonigle (Coleraine) 6