Cliftonville v Portadown

R
ICHARD Brush says
Cliftonville can have no
excuses for Tuesday
night’s defeat to Ballymena
United and insists they
have no choice but to respond
this afternoon.
The Reds entered the midweek
game on the back of successive
away defeats to Dungannon
Swifts and Larne but their bid to
get back on track on
home turf
was dealt a
hammer
blow
when the
Sky Blues took
an early lead which
they extended by a further
three unanswered goals
after the break on an evening
when the hosts simply failed to
get started.
Goalkeeper Brush - beaten by
two deflected strikes and a penalty
in that rout - says that, while
Cliftonville have had to contend
with a crippling injury list all
season long, there is no justification
for such a lamentable
display.
“I thought the second-half in
Dungannon, our performance
might have saw us nick something,”
says the 36-year-old. “On
Saturday, Larne had lots of possession
of the ball but as a unit
we looked solid. It was tough to
lose in the final minutes but
Tuesday was an opportunity to
put it to bed. We didn’t play well
in any shape or form.
“If you want to put a positive
spin on it, the only way is up - if
you look at it, can it get worse
than it already is?
“Without making excuses, injuries
have taken their toll and
we’ve had to shuffle and change
and bits and pieces - which is no
excuse for the performance on
Tuesday evening.”
Ahead of this afternoon’s Danske
Bank Premiership encounter with
Portadown - who come into the
game on the back of a heavy loss
of their own, albeit two-and-ahalf
weeks have passed since
they shipped four goals to Carrick
Rangers - Brush admits he
isn’t concerned by the manner of
Cliftonville’s performance and
insists the priority must simply
be to collect three points to stop
the rot.
“We’ve got nothing to lose at the
minute and we’ve got to go give
it a rattle, whether that’s getting
behind the ball and getting at it
or playing football,” adds the
Birmingham-born stopper.
“Either way, we’ve got to do
something and respond with a
positive reaction.”
Adding to the Reds’ challenge
today will, of course, be the fact
that they will have no supporters
here to cheer them on.
Covid-19 restrictions imposed by
the Stormont Executive mean all
football will be played behind
closed doors for the next fortnight
and, though he acknowledges
it’s an unusual situation,
Brush admits it isn’t entirely
alien to him or his team-mates.
“It’s been a strange preparation
to the season, we came back for
the semi-final of the Irish Cup
and then we were out for a while
and we didn’t know what was
going on,” he recalls.
“The lads had been preparing
and kept themselves in great
nick. It was a strange one and
there have been matches called
off in the last couple of weeks. It
wasn’t hard to prepare but there
is a certainly a bit of unknown.
It’s like that for every Club and
we can’t be making excuses for
our performances in the last few
games. We’re just glad to be
back at it.”
13