David Jeffrey clear Portadown 'down but long way from being out' after winless Premiership start
Portadown manager David Jeffrey insists his side are “down but a long way from being out” after suffering a third consecutive Premiership defeat.
The Ports were reduced to 10 men after 39 minutes of Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Crusaders when Finn Flanagan was shown a second yellow card and were 2-0 down at half-time before producing a fine response.
Jeffrey’s men are one of three Premiership teams still without a point – Bangor and Limavady United the others – and it doesn’t get any easier as leaders Coleraine visit Shamrock Park on Friday evening.
However, former Linfield chief Jeffrey is embracing the challenge and believes there’s still cause for Portadown optimism.
"We’re down but we’re a long way from being out,” Jeffrey told the club’s media channel. “I knew the size of the job when I came to the club.
"Quite a bit of rebuilding has been done, we’ve had a number of new players coming in, we need to start learning quickly, we have another lesson (against Crusaders).
"There’s much to look forward to, we’re disappointed, we’re down, absolutely, but we’ll look at what we did well, what we should be doing better, and concentrate on improving.
"We look forward to the game against Coleraine on Friday evening.”
Adam Brooks’ first half double combined alongside Flanagan’s dismissal seemingly put Crusaders on the path for a comfortable victory, but the Ports gave themselves a lifeline as Baris Altintop and Eamon Fyfe struck at Seaview.
The Crues striker completed his hat-trick prior to Fyfe’s goal with the hosts able to see out the final 30 minutes to seal maximum points.
While Jeffrey was proud to see his side roaring back into the contest despite a numerical disadvantage, the Ports chief also feels there’s crucial improvements required as the Co Armagh club look to scale the Premiership table.
"The response to going down to 10 men and being two goals down in the second half deserved something more than what we got,” he added. “To be very fair to Declan Caddell and Sean O’Neill, they said as much.
"It would be totally wrong of me to let the second half gloss over what we didn’t do correctly in the first half.
"The two goals we gave away, it wasn’t one mistake, it wasn’t two mistakes, it was three mistakes, it was three occasions where we didn’t do what we should have done.
"The players are well aware of that, they’re frustrated. When you analyse the goals, we gifted the last one, the first two we should have done much better.
"The response was commendable, absolutely, there was fight and guts, but we have to learn quickly that there’s basics we need to do well.
"While I’m delighted and thankful for the response of the players, we shouldn’t find ourselves in that situation.
"It’s another hard day at the office but we reflect on what was good, there’s plenty there to be happy about, but it’s a results business and if we’re to start picking up points, there’s things we have to do better very quickly.”