Sports Direct Irish Premiership
Linfield v Crusaders (Saturday, 3pm, Windsor Park)
There is no let-up for Crusaders as they try to end a three-game losing run with a daunting trip to Windsor Park tomorrow.
By contrast, Linfield are unbeaten in their last nine games, a sequence that includes four draws and three wins in the Sports Direct Premiership.
One of the three victories was a 1-0 win over the Crues at Windsor Park, courtesy of a Chris McKee strike.
The North Belfast team then lost 2-0 to Coleraine and slumped to a 4-0 defeat to Portadown last Saturday at Seaview.
In a challenging season for Declan Caddell, that was a nadir for the Crusaders manager.
“It was an unacceptable performance and I told the players that”, said Caddell.
“I’ll be looking for a response today and it doesn’t matter if it’s against Linfield, Portadown, Cliftonville, whoever.
“We should treat every game, and we do, exactly the same as the other, but one thing I’ll be wanting is a response.
“Obviously it will be difficult today, Linfield are the reigning Champions for a reason, we know how strong they are and we’ll be prepared.
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“But I want to see more from my players, a will to play and a will to win, and a bit of hard work, which I thought we were lacking against Portadown.
“I’d like to see the players express themselves more, be a bit more creative.”
Jacob Blaney will be out of contention for the next month after dislocating his shoulder against the Ports.
The 21-year-old defender had just returned to action after a shoulder problem when he screamed in pain last Saturday when his other shoulder popped out.
“We’re told he will be out for four weeks”, confirmed Caddell.
“I feel for Jacob because he worked so hard to get back to full fitness, only for this to happen.
“We have a number of players coming back from injury, we need to patch them up and go again.
“In December the games come thick and fast, but it is what it is.”
Crusaders were due to play Cliftonville in the North Belfast derby on Tuesday night before Storm Bram put the kibosh on the game.
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The Crues play Larne after today before travelling to Solitude for the St Stephen’s Day derby, and for good measure drew Coleraine in the Irish Cup in January.
Linfield play basement club Glenavon next week, Glentoran in the traditional Boxing Day derby then Coleraine in another huge game on New Year’s Eve.
Manager David Healy has been busy behind the scenes on player contracts, with Kyle McClean and Dane McCullough both putting pen to paper on extensions at Windsor Park.
With three games in hand on Coleraine and one on Larne, the former international striker feels the key objective is to stay in the slipstream of the pacesetter in the New Year.
“We have four tough games left in the month, starting with Crusaders today”, said Healy.
“November was a big month and so is December. It’s important now that we maintain some sort of form.”
