CLIFTONVILLE boss Jim Magilton was confident that Portadown were always going to turn around their slow start to the campaign.
David Jeffrey’s side visit Solitude on Saturday evening (6pm kick-off), looking to build on picking up four-points from their last two games and climbing off the foot of the Boyles Sports Premiership table on goal difference.
Magilton believes that their experience and quality was going to help them, but is hopeful that his side can put a stop to their recent momentum.
“They were always going to turn it around again with their experienced players, the quality that they have in the group and their manager and that is important for them,” Magilton acknowledged.
“We’ve got good memories of playing against Portadown. We’ve got to take that, recover well and then get ready for a massive game on Saturday.
“We play them again the following Tuesday, but it is just the way it is and the way the draw goes – you’ve got to play who is in front of you.
“We’ve got them in the league on Saturday and we’ve got to go all guns blazing again. I thought our starts have been good, and we have to continue that bright start and recover well. The lads have to make sure they look after themselves for Saturday and go again”.
Cliftonville’s own losing sequence came to an end on Tuesday evening with a hard fought 1-0 win over Glentoran in the quarter-final of the Toals County Antrim Shield, with Magilton praising his team's work-rate, especially without the ball.
“We were all good defenders tonight without the ball, we had to be against a good side” he reflected.
“I thought at times we controlled the tempo, I think when we can do that I think we are a good side – we just haven’t done that often enough.
“We had maybe one or two opportunities where we could have potentially killed the game off, but you always have to be very cautious against a team like Glentoran with the quality they have and quality coming off the bench.
“Everybody worked their socks off. It was a real togetherness tonight, there was a real united front and that is important, we are going to need that. The fans here tonight were outstanding, they stayed with the team which was really, really important. We have to give them something to feed off and I thought we did that tonight and that was great."
Ben Quinn’s fifth goal of the campaign to date sealed victory and his manager is now willing his side to knuckle down and build on the victory with league victories.
“Ben has so much more to give” Magilton believes.
“Tonight, he showed that, especially in that transition and that quality, pace and composure to finish.
“We just got to knuckle down, focus on the league again. That one we can tuck away and we can look forward to a semi final.
“The bread and butter is our league and we’ve got to do better than that. Hopefully that is building blocks”.
Magilton insists credit for the midweek win lies with the squad, who took on his call from resilience and quality of competitiveness.
“I thought we were really unlucky against Ballymena,” Magilton recalled.
“Whilst it was a great finish on their part, we were down to 10-men and I thought we had a real go. We had a real go on Saturday, on the other end of a 1-0.
“Tonight we won 1-0. It is very tight, every game is really competitive in the league. Tonight we had to show that quality of resilience and that quality of competitiveness – which we did.
“That was something that we talked about, and the players responded magnificently well, so they deserve the credit”.
Kyle McClelland may be a doubt for Saturday evening's encounter with the Ports having departed through a head knock in the first half of their County Antrim Shield win, though Magilton was more than satisfied with replacement Aaron Wightman and other players that needed to reshuffle.
“I think he [Kyle] just got a slap in the head, nowadays you’ve just got to air on the side of caution,” he explained.
“Aaron Wightman had to come in, and did a great job. Alex [Bannon] who has been outstanding for us, slipped into centre half seamlessly and our back four defended for their lives tonight. Everybody in front of them had to work their socks off to get the result”.
