Soccer

Cliftonville travel to Shamrock Park on the crest of a three-win wave

Ryan Curran found the net in Cliftonville's first three games
Ryan Curran found the net in Cliftonville's first three games Ryan Curran found the net in Cliftonville's first three games

Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Portadown v Cliftonville (today, Shamrock Park, 3pm)

CLIFTONVILLE travel to Shamrock Park on the crest of a three-win wave to meet a Portadown side that is enduring a contrasting start to the season.

The Reds recovered quickly from an opening weekend loss to Coleraine but their bottom-of-the-table hosts have lost four out of four, a run than includes defeats to the Bannsiders as well as Linfield, Crusaders and Glentoran.

Paddy McLaughlin’s Cliftonville recovered their poise after that early stumble against Coleraine and have since seen off Carrick Rangers, Ballymena United and Dungannon Swifts.

“It’s been a good recovery from (losing) the first game,” said manager McLaughlin.

“We probably could have got a draw out of that game – we hit the crossbar late on – so we were disappointed with the start but the boys have responded really well. Going to Portadown, confidence is high and we’re starting to find our form. We’re looking forward to it but it’ll be tough down there, we always seem to get it tight there.

“They’re a well-organised team and they’ve brought in a lot of new faces during the summer so it’ll be a tough one.”

Portadown have registered a single goal so far this season and it came via a Jordan Jenkins penalty so manager Paul Doolin will expect his side to get their season up-and-running on their home patch this afternoon.

“I’m sure they’ve been frustrated and disappointed with their start so far,” said McLaughlin.

“They’ve got good players in their ranks and in Paul Doolin they’ve got one of the best managers to come out of the League of Ireland. Paul knows the game inside out and he knows how to get the best out of his boys so it’ll be tough tomorrow and we’ve got to be prepared for that.”

Ryan Curran has led the scoring stakes with three goals for the Reds but there have had six goal-scorers in their winning run and that form augurs well for their trip to county Armagh.

“The frontmen usually have to carry the burden of scoring the goals for us. Joe Gormley in particular and we’ve probably depended on Joe too much, so it’s good to see that there are other players around him who are contributing as well.

“Ronan Hale (a scorer against Carrick and Dungannon) has been a brilliant signing for us and Ryan Curran has started the season like a house on fire – he has continued his form on from the last few seasons. Our frontmen have been doing well but we’ve spread that responsibility for scoring goals right through the team.”

New goalkeeper Nathan Gartside has settled in quickly between the sticks and has a 100 per cent winning record with the Reds so far. Cliftonville will be hot favourites to extend their run of victories and could go top if other results go their way but McLaughlin says there’ll be no room for complacency on the team bus to Shamrock Park.

“We don’t go into any game expecting to win,” he said.

“We go in with the belief that we can win but we don’t go out expecting that things are going to fall into place for us because that’s when it comes back to bite you. We’ll go down determined to win and confident that we can but all games in the Irish League are tough, they’re all challenging and Portadown will be no different.

“If we can play to our maximum we’ll be confident that we can get the win but we don’t expect to win.”

Left-back Aaron Treanor, the recent signing from Coleraine, isn’t expected to feature as he recovers from injury but winger Stephen Mallon has responded well to treatment for a quad injury and could play his part.

Meanwhile,

Ballymena United host a Linfield side smarting from their 2-1 loss to Carrick Rangers who travel to Mourneview Park hoping to pile more misery on a Glenavon outfit that was hammered by Newry City during the week.

After that 5-1 win Darren Mullen’s Newry side make the trip to the Oval to face unbeaten table-toppers Glentoran.