Crusaders sit atop the Northern Irish Football League and Stephen Baxter is intent on keeping them there.
The Seaview side has racked up 20 goals so far this season, putting six past Institute at the weekend.
Baxter was delighted with the victory and said that it is always pleasing to get a clean-sheet and a big win on the road.
“When you go away from home to any ground and get a good score-line like that and keep a clean sheet, it’s always a good win.
“It’s always tricky away to Institute, so I was very pleased with the manner of the performance. We were right on it from the start.
“Obviously when they went a man down, we really had the sole possession and control of the game. We passed the ball well and it was a comfortable performance for us.”
Not only has Crusaders scored more than any other side in the league this far, they have also conceded the fewest. Baxter put in a lot of work on this prior to the start of the season and is happy to be reaping the rewards.
“We put a lot of emphasis pre-season on making sure that we are tight at the back and conceding as few goals as possible. We are managing so far to do that pretty well.
“We have only conceded two goals in the league. At the other end of the park, it is important to be scoring goals and creating chances and I am pleased with the amount of chances we are creating as well.
“We have scored quite a few goals, despite missing a few chances. In some ways this is a reflection on how well the team is playing; we scored six against Institute but missed four great chances in the game, that tells you about how many chances we created.
The attackers are scoring at will and the defence is air-tight, but Baxter heaped the praise upon the midfield.
“We are doing well at both ends of the park but I think you have to pay a lot of tribute to the midfield. They are the engine room and they dictate the pace of the game at both ends.”
Next up for Crusaders is Sirocco Works in the County Antrim Shield. The Crues are the current holders of the County Antrim Shield and Baxter is planning on getting his hands on the shield once more.
“We have won the County Antrim Shield two years in a row and it would be nice to win a hat-trick in the competition. We have to rotate the squad professionally and we have a number of players who are all able and ready to play.
“We will definitely be making some changes, no doubt about that. We are looking forward to welcoming Sirocco Works to Seaview for a good game of football on Tuesday night.
“It is good for some of these lads who haven’t played a lot of football, they are absolutely chomping at the bit to get a game and we are looking forward to playing them.”
Injury struck before the game against Institute, but Baxter had the personnel to ably deal with this set-back.
“We picked up one or two injuries before the Institute game. We had three of our back four out of action Saturday. We were missing Colin Coates, Jarlath O’Rourke, Billy-Joe Burns, all through injury.
“So you need that strength in depth. The players who came in were very capable and all played well. So there is competition for places in the team.
“We have a healthy balance of players here, young and old, and they are all fighting hard. We will keep an eye on things as the season develops, but I am very pleased with the squad we have at the moment.”
It’s very early days, but Baxter’s men look primed to challenge Linfield for the league title this season.
“Over the course of the season, it’s a long-haul run. We have been fighting hard for the past six or seven years for league titles.
“We have never been out of top two up until last year. So it is important to try and get back in there again. We have three titles in the last four years, we are pretty pleased with what we are doing and we are ready to step up again to challenge Linfield.
“Linfield are certainly the team of the moment and rightly so given what they are doing. They are the team to be shot at, the year before that we were the team to be shot at, so you have got to go out and do your business every week and we will definitely give it our best.”
