Cliftonville answered doubters’ questions in Portadown win, claims Jim Magilton

Portadown 0 Cliftonville 2

Cliftonville answered some doubters' questions against Portadown

Jim Magilton responded to those who have questioned Cliftonville’s mettle and believes that his players did too with a resolute performance to beat Portadown 2-0 and secure their passage to the Semi-Finals of the Clearer Water Irish Cup.

The Reds dropped off the pace at the top of the League table after back-to-back defeats to Linfield and Dungannnon Swifts and, as well as doubts being raised over whether they had the credentials to last the pace, those results also piled the pressure on for Friday’s Cup tie at Shamrock Park.

Magilton himself was never in any doubt about the qualities that his players possess. The Solitude boss pointed to their performance against the Ports, when they found the going tough, survived a scare when Eamon Fyfe rattled the woodwork – as well as doing the same twice themselves – and showed a hunger and desire after missing other chances that eventually saw them compete the victory thanks to a Luke Wilson own goal and Sam Ashford’s late strike.

“I totally dismiss the bottle thing. I think it’s a load of tosh, if I’m honest, because these lads have shown tremendous character and resilience,” said the Red boss.

“Nobody talked about their bottle when they were scoring goals in the 98th and 96th minutes of games, they talked about their character and resilience.

“Pressure? Yes. Absolute pressure. Of course there is pressure, it’s a Cup Quarter-Final. You are trying to take the pressure off them.

“These lads are social media freaks so they all know exactly what is going on. They also know that this is a tough place to come and I think we showed our bottle.”

Wilson was unfortunate to turn Sean Stewart’s cross