Crusaders chief Stephen Baxter: Focus is on a fourth place finish rather than my final north Belfast derby win

Jordan Forsythe opened the scoring for the Crues with a poked effort on 18 minutes before Joe Gormley levelled with a clinical finish six minutes after the restart.

But Stewart Nixon popped up with a volley on 66 minutes to claim victory for the home side and leave Crusaders four points clear of Glentoran in fourth spot in the Sports Direct Premiership.

This was Baxter’s final north Belfast derby in the Crues dugout at Seaview, but he insists his imminent departure after 19 glorious years at the helm should not detract from the goal ahead in the remaining two games against Coleraine and Glentoran.

“I’m trying to take all the emotion and sentiment out of what’s going on around me leaving,” smiled the Seaview supremo.

“It always feels good to get a win. It was important to win because the focus is on fourth place. I knew the magnitude of the game on Tuesday night. I knew it was our last home game of the season, I knew it was against Cliftonville, our north Belfast rivals, and it was very important that we won it because of the fourth-place scenario.

“Our football wasn’t great, our first-half performance was rank average, but we created big chances and we got two goals out of probably five chances, Cliftonville got one out of probably two or three good chances.

“So the supporters are happy, I’m happy, but more importantly we’re trying to get players through games because of the injuries that are building up on us, because there are bigger matches down the road.”

The Reds were left reeling by the hammering at Inver Park last weekend and have games against Glentoran and Linfield before taking on the Blues in the showpiece Irish Cup Final on May 4, and manager Jim Magilton was satisfied with the performance, if not the result.

“I’m disappointed, I hate losing,” he said. “We needed a reaction from Saturday, and I think we got one.

“I thought we started the game really brightly, created some really good opportunities but when you don’t take them, especially with the quality they have, you get punished and I thought we gave away a really poor goal from a set-piece. But we played with more confidence, passed the ball well and that was an improvement from Saturday.”