Baxter says Crues can go through

Stephen Baxter's Crusaders celebrated a late equaliser

Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter believes his Irish League part-timers can overcome FK Rabotnicki and progress to the next stage of the Europa League.

The sides drew 1-1 at Mourneview Park on Tuesday with the Irish League side missing a penalty and having defender Colin Coates sent-off.

"We are not celebrating, because we should have won the game," said Baxter.

"Now we can play them away with a bit of confidence. We will go to try to win the match."

The second leg of the second qualifying round will be played on Thursday, 23 July.

Baxter said he was pleased with the way his players kept going against the Macedonian cup holders.

"We came back and got something from the game and it was no more than we deserved," added the Crues boss.

"We should have won 3-1 given the chances we had.

"We were better than them. When we went down to 10 men, for a 20-minute spell we played them off the park.

"Everyone gave a magnificent, professional performance. They all worked their socks off.

"We can take a lot of pride from tonight."