An off day

Portadown 2-0 Cliftonville

Nine-man Cliftonville endured an afternoon to forget against Portadown as virtually everything that could go wrong did go wrong during a disastrous first-half at Shamrock Park.

Behind when Ryan Mayse was given the benefit of the doubt in a very tight offside call just four minutes in, the Reds saw a Joe Gormley leveller ruled out for the same infringement before Conor Pepper picked up two quickfire yellow cards from referee Rob Hennessey.

The League of Ireland official also ruled that Jonny Addis had denied Eamon Fyfe a clear goalscoring opportunity just minutes before half-time and, with Cliftonville eager to reach the break in order to regroup, Ahu Okhakhan touched in a second to make the visitors’ task all the more challenging.

The scoresheet was never really threatened thereafter despite the Ports’ numerical advantage, while the Reds’ day took another disappointing turn when Gormley was forced off through injury after appearing to land awkwardly.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Kearney, Casey, Addis, Glynn, Doherty, Pepper, Steven (Newberry, 45 mins), Hale (Corrigan, 82 mins), Curran (Piesold, 46 mins), Gormley (Markey, 68 mins). Unused subs: Ridd, Pettifer, Madden.