Ports take it to the wire

It was a result which left Reds boss Jim Magilton fuming as he laid down the law after the game, “It was an awful day for us in terms of our attitude and application to the game, we were second best from minute one to minute ninety.” Cup final places would seem to be at stake, “If people are saving themselves, or are potentially thinking they’re saving themselves for a Cup Final, they are definitely dealing with the wrong individual and the wrong staff”

It was a game dominated by Portadown and it took the home side just 93 seconds to open the scoring. Josh Ukek left Kris Lowe in his wake as he cut in from the left and pulled it back for the unmarked Eamon Fyfe on the edge of the box to fire his shot straight at Ridd with the ball rifling under the keeper.

A mistake by Ridd almost allowed The Ports to double the lead in the eleventh minute, when Ukek blocked his attempted clearance at the back post and the ball squirmed onto bar and rolled over.

On twenty-seven minutes McGuinness set up McWoods and his snapshot was well saved by McCarey low down to his left. Just after the half hour mark great work from McCartan saw him weave his way through the Cliftonville defence and he fed it to McElroy, but as he pulled the trigger his shot was blocked for a corner.

Four minutes later Fyfe pulled the ball back from the by-line and this time it was Casey intervening to prevent Ukek getting his shot away.

Six minutes from the interval Ports players were lining up in the box but Teelan’s ball went behind everyone.

At the other end Pettifer had a thundering shot well blocked by Chapman. Cliftonville made a change at the break, and it was substitute Rory Hale that saw his snapshot crash off the underside of the bar four minutes after the restart. It was the home side however who doubled their lead when, following a fine passage of interplay between McCullough and Minzamba, the ball was fed to Ukek thirty yards out on the left. Ukek looked up took a couple of paces before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the far corner evading Ridd at full stretch.

That goal saw Cliftonville make a treble substitution with Madden, Donnelly and Gormley introduced by the visitors. It was The Ports though that continued to press and putting pressure on the Cliftonville backline down both wings.

With four minutes remaining Portadown gave a first team debut to eighteen-year-old Goncalo Monteiro.

The result sees Portadown go into the last game of the regular season with all to play for, with a seventh place European play-off spot still up for grabs. It is a remarkable achievement for ‘The

Ports’ to have secured at least an eight place finish in their first season back in the Premier League, and something that manager Niall Currie is rightly proud of, “ We have played the last five or six weeks with at least five starters missing from our line-up, something that the media do not mention—to take it to the last game to get a European Play-off is brilliant and we’ll give it a right go.

Whatever transpires next Saturday everyone can be rightly proud of what has been achieved, and the Ports gaffer was full of praise for his charges, “The players have represented the club brilliantly—all the supports want is honesty, and I can look at every player today and they were sensational. I thought we thoroughly deserved it”

Portadown: McCarey, Chapman, McCullough, Isamala, Traynor, Ukek (Monteiro), McCartan,

Minzamba (McCawl), Fyfe, McElroy (Obhakhan), Teelan. Unused Subs: Williamson, Redman, D Wilson, McKay.

Cliftonville: Ridd, Pepper, Stewart, Addis, Pettifer (Hale), Lowe, Casey, McGuiness (Glynn),

McWoods (Donnelly), Parsons (Madden), Corrigan (Gormley). Unused Subs: Odumosu, Keaney