Portadown boss Matthew Tipton wants home help for landmark Shamrock Park game against Coleraine

Portadown manager Matthew Tipton has faith in the fans to play a key role across today’s landmark clash with Coleraine.
Portadown manager Matthew Tipton.Portadown manager Matthew Tipton.
Portadown manager Matthew Tipton.

Capacity is limited due to coronavirus restrictions but 438 tickets have sold out for the welcome return of Premiership football at Shamrock Park since the 2017 relegation.

Tipton, a former Portadown player, considers the bond between fans and club stronger than any time in his association stretching back across the past decade.

And Tipton is calling on the fanbase to prove it for the visit of highly-regarded Coleraine.

“The atmosphere around the club has improved so much for a number of reasons but certainly thanks to the open communication of the officials and, I think, the response of the fans to what is such an honest and dedicated group of players,” said Tipton. “It helped us last season on our way to promotion out of the Championship and it is going to be something we want to make full use of on our return to the Premiership.

“It is a credit to everyone involved that we have a sold-out crowd heading into the Coleraine game and it is a special day for the fans to see Portadown back at Shamrock Park in the Premiership.”

The Ports tackle a Coleraine squad with impressive pedigree on the domestic front and in European competition across recent seasons under Oran Kearney.

However, Tipton’s players can carry confidence into the challenge from last weekend’s impressive 4-2 derby success against Glenavon.

“At this level it is all about the small details and one major benefit of playing now in the Premiership is the amount of information available on the opposition to help you prepare,” said Tipton. “It is our job to utilise that and use it to try and prepare the players for each challenge.

“When you look at what Coleraine have achieved they obviously deserve respect but our approach will always be about trying to find a way to limit the opposition’s strengths and still impose our own gameplan.

“This squad has shown real ability to adapt and react to different situations across the Championship and that flexibility could be important.

“We have a belief in how we prepare and approach every game and the hard work put in across the board.

“But it also is about showing you can react to what comes up in the moment, so you want players who can take on responsibility.

“We went into the Glenavon game with a plan and the players executed it superbly to come away with the win.

“We may prepare in different ways for different teams but the core work does not change for us and that will help us cope with the ups and downs ahead.

“You could see on Saturday against Glenavon how, no matter the situation, the players did not lose focus or get caught up in the emotion.

“They played with a level of control that comes from trusting in the way we go about our business and taking confidence from that under any circumstance - win, lose or draw.”

Coleraine boss Oran Kearney is also looking for his players to embrace personal responsibility in the aftermath of the derby defeat to Ballymena United.

“We needed players to really step up to the mark and say ‘I’m the man and be the person who changes this’, but we didn’t get that in the last 20 minutes,” said Kearney. “You have to go and really grab it in those phases of the game.

“We are carrying a few knocks but we still have a lot of good players available to us and we have a competitive squad.

“We don’t get it easy at Shamrock Park and I wouldn’t expect it to be that way.

“They have fought really hard over the last three years to get back into this league and with that being their first home game, they will be bang up for it.

“We have got to lick our wounds, get back to work and make sure we are raring to go for that one.”

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