Matthew Tipton’s final interview highlights Ports’ ‘more questions than answers’

It left Portadown suffering a 14th loss from 23 fixtures across the Premiership programme and, possibly most damning, third of the campaign to a Dungannon side considered a pre-season rival in the relegation battle but now nine points clear.

“All over the pitch we were disappointing,” said Tipton. “I don’t think anyone can hold their hand up and say they performed, not only to their maximum but anywhere near their ability.

“We looked like we were short of confidence, short of belief and short of ideas.

“There were occasions when we had the ball and we just panicked and it looked like that from minute one.

“We conceded a sloppy goal from a set-piece when two people don’t do their jobs.

“Jethren (Barr) has pulled us out of the mire twice with two great saves and we were still on our heels.

“And I thought that summed us up all day...we played on our heels.

“We were reactionary to things instead of anticipating, you’ve got to be on the front foot and I thought Dungannon did that better than us all day.

“They were on the front foot with everything they did - be it a pass, movement, support play.

“They looked like they were full of energy and we looked like we were hanging on for grim death from 10 minutes in.

“If you play on the back foot all the time then mistakes will happen and that wasn’t the gameplan or how we set them up today, we want them to go forward and play on the front foot.

“We were penned back by their play but we could have triggered it by doing what we wanted to do but we just didn’t do it.

“There are more questions than answers now - against a team near us today we’ve not raised our game but you shouldn’t have to raise your game, you should have a level of performance.

“But we are not having that, it’s too up and down all over the place and that’s the reason why we are where we are.

“Everything was hopeful, even when Jamal (Dupree) had a strike that the keeper parried, you could see only Stephen Teggart is following it in and we don’t have anyone else for the cutback.

“It’s a lack of desire or lack of belief that we are actually going to score...it’s just a case of we might score.

“You have to always be getting in the box or putting the ball in there and we didn’t do it enough.

“We’ve had two shots on target today, one in the first half and then Oisin Conaty’s goal.

“We’re not creating either, which is a problem, it’s not as if we are missing loads of chances.

“We are trying to get more creative players in the team and squad.”

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