Stephen Baxter has a sweat on over last year's Irish Cup final hero Josh Robinson after he limped out Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Glentoran in the final round of league fixtures.
The big defender netted a last-gasp equaliser in last season's showpiece final against Ballymena United before Johnny McMurray won it for the Crues in extra time.
But Robinson's participation in this year's rematch with the Sky Blues next Sunday is hanging in the balance as he was forced off due to injury against the Glens.
Read more: Watch: Glentoran teen scores incredible overhead kick in league win
The good news for the cup holders though is it is not a recurrence of the hamstring injury which has kept him out of the last two games, but the centre-back will have to be assessed this week to see if he will make the game next weekend.
"Josh has been carrying a hamstring injury for the last two or three weeks and it was a must for him to play today," said Baxter.
"He ends up twisting his knee down in the corner just before half time.
"We will just have to wait and see how things go this week.
"It's nothing to do with the hamstring injury. He trained a little bit this week, but it was important that we saw him play to see how he was getting on.
"In the build up to big games you have to see who is going to be able to play and work out what we need for next week."
Baxter shuffled his pack against the Glens due to the threat of suspension and injury ahead of the Irish Cup final, and he was pleased with the effort if not the result.
"With the risk of suspension looming over Philip Lowry and Jordan Forsythe we couldn't play them at all after the Larne game," he said.
"So there were lots of things to consider from our point of view, and today was the last day for anyone to be impacted by a sending off or an injury and be out of the cup final.
"We've already lost Billy Joe Burns for the final so we really couldn't afford to lose anyone else given the size of our squad.
"The motivation for today was there are three or four shirts up for grabs for next week so I wanted them to show me what they have got.
"The makeshift team made us proud, I'm pleased with the effort, not so much the result, I would have liked a draw but we didn't get it.
"Our full focus is now on the cup final and where it needs to be."
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