Won objective

Jim Magilton insists that Cliftonville achieving their winning objective against Portadown overshadows any frustrations about the nervy finale they endured in yesterday’s Sports Direct Premiership opener at Solitude.

With Ryan Curran seeing a penalty saved and Ronan Doherty striking the post before Curran pounced for the only goal of the game, the Reds were denied a second after the break when visiting keeper Aaron McCarey kept Joe Gormley and Curran at bay ahead of Gormley flicking an effort on to the crossbar.

The hosts’ inability to kill the game off almost came back to haunt them deep into injury-time when Steven McCullough curled an attempt towards the bottom corner only for David Odumosu to make a fingertip stop that preserved all three points.

Afterwards, Magilton maintained that winning the game was more important than the manner of the success.

“I’m very pleased with the performance, attitude and application of the players in tough conditions,” he reflected.

“I thought we were pretty dominant in possession. If Ryan scores the penalty, it settles us down quicker. If you don’t take your chances, you will have to defend for your life, your goalkeeper will need to make saves.

“We could have made things a bit more comfortable with another goal but I don’t think you could say we didn’t deserve to win the game.

“It was a little bit nervy and all hands to the pump towards the end but first games of the season can be strange things in many ways, so overall I’m delighted to get the win.”

While Odumosu’s late intervention ensured a clean sheet, Magilton was effusive in his praise for a central defensive unite of Luke Conlan, Shaun Leppard and Michael Newberry that had never played together before.

“When you are dominating, the keeper needs to maintain that focus and concentration,” added the Reds boss.

“He did that and made a huge save. The back five and goalkeeper were outstanding. They gelled very well. We lost Jonny Addis to a slight injury this week and he is a massive influence on the team both defensively and offensively, but our defence was excellent and we scored a really, really good goal so it goes down as a good start for us.”