Stephen Baxter was beaming as Crusaders made it to back-to-back Irish Cup finals in dramatic fashion.
The Crues boss admitted it hadn't been the "greatest spectacle" against Dungannon Swifts at Mourneview Park, but ultimately it was all about the result.
The drama was saved until injury time when club stalwart Declan Caddell came off the bench to score the winner with his first touch and send the cup holders through to a meeting with last year's Ballymena United on May 7.
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“We got there, it wasn’t the greatest spectacle for the fans at times, but semi-finals are often cagey affairs," he said.
"People will only remember who won in a few weeks time and thankfully that was us.
“We didn’t change our build up during the week, we knew in our heads what we had to do and even when time was running out I always thought we could nick one and luckily Declan stepped up to the mark with a fantastic finish.
“The pleasing aspect of this match today was that we went to win the game.
“We created three, four huge moments in the game where their goalkeeper has made world-class saves, and we were off our seats thinking ‘that’s in the back of the net’. Otherwise, this could have been 3-0 or 4-0.
“However, Dungannon stayed in the game and fought particularly hard all around the pitch.”
Baxter had a special word of praise for match-winner Caddell, who came off the bench to play such a key role for Crusaders months after coming out of retirement.
“He’s dyed-in-the-wool Crusaders," said Baxter. "From a young boy at 15 in our youth Academy, and at 33 he has still got the talent to play at this level of the game, and the drive and the hunger to do it.
“He went into retirement, we gave him six months to get the Academy up and running, and I told him to stop faffing about… I told him to get out, dust it down and give us a wee bit because we need him off the bench.”
It was a cruel way for Dungannon Swifts to lose it in the end but boss Dean Shiels says they have to focus all their attention on retaining their place in the Premiership with some big games still to play.
“Listen, that’s football," he said. "Fair play to Crusaders. I thought at times we played really well, but we just lacked that execution in the final third of the pitch.
"It will be a difficult few days but we will be up again with a lot to play for in the league.”
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