LEAGUE CUP FINAL: ‘Mugged’ Stephen Baxter looking Crusaders to move forward from penalty pain

Referee Ian McNabb awarded a spot-kick for what he deemed a foul on Jamie Glackin during attempts by Billy Joe Burns and Rodney Brown to cut out a ball into the box.

Stephen Lowry made no mistake with the penalty to level the showpiece showdown following an early Jamie McGonigle goal. James McLaughlin grabbed the glory in the 2-1 victory with a second-half goal which had a second set of Crusaders appeals dismissed.

Baxter was quick to highlight his respect for the responsibility of the match officials - but also revealed he spent the early stages of his half-time teamtalk attempting to calm down his furious players and regain focus.

“The controversy of the penalty kick was the turning point,” said Baxter. “I thought we were really comfortable in the first half.

“We were under no pressure with the football at the back at all, we looked very lively going forward and got a very good goal.

“When you get an irate Billy Joe Burns coming in at half-time - and I’m talking totally irate, along with a number of players around him - that will tell you (we felt) it was never a penalty in a million years.

“That changes the game, it gives Coleraine a lifeline.

“I’ll have to see back the second Coleraine goal. 

“Our players were running out to say it was a foul on the goalkeeper, Sean O’Neill was running out to say he was impeded.

“We cannot do anything about the decisions, you can only set a team up and manage to go out on the park to do your very best but a lot of these things are out of your control.

“There’s a big cry in England around VAR, we are not lucky enough to have it here.

“Other people can be the judge, I don’t want to be coming in being critical of referees, they have a tough job to manage games.

“These things hinge on those calls - we don’t think it was a penalty, simple as that.

“I felt mugged.

“When those guys are putting in the hard yards to get to these finals, the bigger disappointment is how it happened.

“They win the cup and we don’t, that’s life.”

Baxter, however, was also frustrated at the response by his players to falling behind after 52 minutes of play.

“There was a hair’s breadth in it over the second half - Coleraine got the goal then Jamie McGonigle blasted over (in injury-time) with what looked like the simplest chance of the game,” he said. “James McLaughlin’s goal was early, it was 52 minutes and I said to the team after you have to have more.

“We had a lot of time to try and penetrate, Stephen Lowry may have won the ‘Man-of-the-Match’ award but, for me, (defender) Stephen O’Donnell was ‘Man-of-the-Match’.

“I thought Reece McGinley was excellent when he came on and brought a little bit more life through those channels.

“You’ve got players like Paul Heatley and Jamie McGonigle who play off the shoulder.

“They are not suddenly going to become players who like to drop off and get it.

“There are certain players play certain styles of football.

“The flip side of that would be Jamie gets in for the first goal due to the instincts of going in behind.

“These are all swings and roundabouts, the fact is we didn’t get the goal we needed, we didn’t create enough and lost the game.

“Coleraine’s celebrations showed what it meant, they are huge games to win and don’t come around that often.

“Congratulations to Coleraine, they did what they needed to do and got the result.”

Now Baxter will turn his focus back to the high drama of the Danske Bank Premiership title race in which the Crues trail league leaders Linfield by eight points heading into Friday’s return to Windsor Park.

“It’s been processed already, the game’s gone - you either win a cup final or lose a cup final,” said Baxter, now keen to move forward and focus on the future challenges. “There’s no crying to be done, there’s a bigger ‘cup final’ for us here next week against Linfield.

“If we had won, I might have had a small worry around the celebrations, as a manager.

“In the coming days it will be about how we are preparing for the next match.

“We would have liked to have won it but you just have to manage as best we can.

“We felt in the build-up it would come down to a break of the ball or one goal to make the difference.

“All season that has been the case between the top teams, it is such a tight league.

“These are all hard games between well-matched sides, it’s going to be a nail-biter.

“Linfield have got that momentum again but we are all in it doing our own thing.

“I do not get too caught up in what other teams are doing, you can only focus on your own plans.

“I’ve told the players, in dealing with this disappointment, they have to not worry so must knock it on the head and come in fresh on Monday.

“That’s how it has to be, they are talented, highly-motivated and professional.”