Charity Shield: Baxter hails 'superstar footballer' Heatley as Healy criticises Linfield players

Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter said there is not much more he can say about Paul Heatley after his match-winning cameo in their Charity Shield success.

The veteran winger came off the bench in the second half against Linfield at Windsor Park to break the deadlock with an audacious lob 22 minutes from time.

Four minutes later he was the architect as new signing Rory McKeown added the second to seal a 2-0 win.

"He is a superstar footballer," Baxter said of the 35-year-old.

"He had a little calf knock through the week and we were reluctant to play him, but we felt we had a few tired legs with the amount of work that was going on out there.

"Paul has all of that quality in abundance, that little bit of trickery around the edge of the box, a lovely little turn and a delightful chip into the top corner.

"He has that in his locker every day and it is nice to watch when it comes off, it is brilliant. When they are sailing over the crossbar by 20 feet I go mad but, no, he is brilliant.

"Paul Heatley, what more can you say about him? He is a great ambassador for our local game. It was good from him today, and good from many others as well."

Saturday's White Ribbon NI Charity Shield was the first time the traditional curtain-raiser to the Irish League season has been played since 2017.

The first half was a hugely low-key affair, played in front of a crowd of just over 1,500, with Blues manager David Healy changing his entire starting line-up from Thursday night's 2-0 defeat by FC Zurich in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier third-round tie.

The match livened up somewhat after the break, though it was not until Heatley's wonderful curling chip in the 68th minute that the game really came to life.

Baxter was in upbeat mood after the win but, with his side opening their Irish Premiership campaign against Dungannon Swifts next Saturday, he would not be drawn on whether the Gibson Cup could return to Seaview for the first time since 2018.

"In local football you have to look at where you are in the round. When we all set out at the start of the season, you want to win the league or you want to win the cup," said Baxter, who also did not rule out adding more players to his squad.

"You are looking to be successful in everything you enter at this level of the game, and we have been there or thereabouts. In 10 years we have only been out of the top four once, we have won it three times and were second other times, so we have been incredibly consistent.

"We certainly will be competitive. How competitive we are against others remains to be seen because other teams are exceptionally good also. But it is all there for the taking, everybody has to work hard at it and we will see where it takes us."

Healy, meanwhile, admitted that the timing of the match was difficult for Linfield given they are travelling to Switzerland during the week to take on Zurich in the second leg on Thursday night.

However, he was strong in his criticism of the players selected, saying that very few of them staked a claim for a place in the starting line-up for upcoming important matches.

"It was a disappointing performance from us, I don't think we got anywhere near the required standard," he said.

"Credit to Crusaders, they were probably a bit hungrier to win than we were. We hope to be better going forward.

"Of course, ideally, we would have preferred the match on a different date, maybe a day later, but wanted to show respect for the charity that we were playing for.

"We did play a strong team and had a strong bench but as a group we didn't perform and didn't get to the levels we want to get to.

"Some of the players had opportunities, not only to get minutes but to go and put on a performance. Some did and some didn't, but what I have said to the players is nobody is really nailing down places for the start of the league campaign and the European games that we have coming up."