Massive lift for the club

MANAGER’S VIEW

IT’S a massive lift for the club and for the boys going into our next run of games.

Obviously our priority is to survive relegation but when you get a Cup run it’s good for confidence and it can help you out of the other situation as well.

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We got the boys in at half-time and gave them a good going over because, with the exception of Tony Grant, Brian McCaul, Davy O’Hare and Kyle Neill, we didn’t perform. It wasn’t acceptable in the first half, including my own performance. We were playing with four players and Portadown had us in knots.

It’s usually the last 15 or 20 minutes that we a lack a bit but on Saturday it was the opposite way around.

In the second half, we came out and showed the character and determination that we’ve showed in the other games that I’ve been in charge. It worked and we took our chances at the right time and that’s what football’s about.

We could have been 3-0 down at half-time but we got that bit of luck and we came out in the second-half with a different attitude. We got two chances and scored two goals and then we dug in deep.

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They pushed us at the end of the game but you’re always going to get that, particularly in Cup games because there’s nothing to lose. Again we finished the game with our two centre-halves taken off and with a right-back and left-winger playing in there.

I was playing right-wing as well and you can see what happens when I play there!

I thought the red card was very, very harsh. (Neil) McCafferty, who I made the tackle on, jumped up and said it wasn’t a booking. I started sliding early and I was slowed right up when I got him and he just ran into me. It’s one of those things in football.

For the first booking, I thought that Ross Redman had played the ball to (Matthew) Paget and I thought it was in play. He took a couple of touches and I touched it away from him. I’ve brought in rules at the club that you can’t get booked for kicking the ball away or talking to the referee so if I’m bringing those in, I’m not going to do it on the pitch myself.

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Referees make mistakes and so do players and you’ve just got to get on with it. It’s not about me, it’s about the club getting the result and it’s for the fans. It’s been a long time since Glenavon beat Portadown in such an important game.