The game started off without much of a bang as both sides were feeling their way into the new season.
There were clearly some nerves at the back for Glentoran with a new goalkeeper and centre-half partnership and, on 22 minutes, Crusaders took advantage.
Goalkeeper Daniel Gyollai wanted too much time on the ball which Offord did not afford him.
The Crusaders debutant charged down an attempted clearance and pounced to slide into the empty net when the spin on the ball evaded Harry Murphy in rather comical circumstances.
You couldn't say that Crusaders were dominating but the hosts were struggling to threaten.
Their best chance of the first half came just before the break when Philip Lowry cleared Wassim Aouachria's header off the line.
The second half was a largely disjointed affair as Glentoran's shaky defence almost came back to bite them again.
Just before the hour mark, Harry Franklin robbed Frankie Hvid but was well denied one-on-one by Gyollai.
Declan Devine rolled the dice shortly after and introduced last year's Championship Player of the Year Jordan Jenkins and he almost nicked an equaliser but was denied well by a Robbie Weir block.
Glentoran kept on pushing with Charlie Lindsay and Paddy McClean both coming close as Crusaders retreated yet held on for the first three points of the season.
Paul Leeman
