Extended credit

Paddy McLaughlin says Portstewart deserve “all the credit in the world” for their application during last night’s Sadler’s Peaky Blinder first round contest at Solitude.

Cliftonville claimed a 5-1 victory thanks to goals from Garry Breen, Daire O’Connor (2), Daniel Kearns and Ryan Curran, but the Premier Intermediate League outfit – who had not played a competitive game since September due to Covid restrictions – threatened to cause an almighty upset when Richard Vauls halved the hosts’ deficit just past the hour mark.

The Reds reacted to the concession of that strike by climbing through the gears thereafter and, as pleased as he was with his own side’s display, McLaughlin insists the circumstances surrounding the Seahawks’ build-up to the contest meant they emerged with praise.

“We’re delighted with five goals, disappointed with the one we conceded but you can’t have everything – we’re in the draw for the next round and that’s what’s important,” he said.

“We spoke about it at the weekend and we spoke about it before the game – if complacency kicks in on your game, it can be a frustrating night and potentially a disaster. We had the right mentality coming into the game on the back of a good performance on Saturday.

“Fair play to Portstewart, they stayed in the game for long periods, probably up until we scored the third goal. You’ve got to give them full credit, their players were excellent. They’ve had four or five weeks to prepare for this one particular game and it’s probably not fair on them that they’ve had no competitive football, but they’ve been able to focus on this game, whereas we’ve had a number of big games and have only really been able to concentrate on it since Saturday.

“They held their own for long periods but I think fitness levels and the quality of our boys probably shone through in the end.

“At 2-1, it’s nervy for a couple of minutes until we scored the third goal which probably deflated them a wee bit and was our security. It put an end to it as a contest but, up until then, you’ve got to give Portstewart all the credit in the world.”