STORY OF THE MATCH: Portadown 2 Cliftonville 0 – Josh Ukek the star as race for European play-off down to final day
Josh Ukek set up the first goal for Eamon Fyfe then scored the second as Portadown cut the gap to two points in the race for seventh spot with a 2-0 win.
The visit of Cliftonville to Shamrock Park presented an opportunity for the Ports to force that chase to the final matchday and keep alive hopes for European football by Niall Currie’s side.
F-T: Portadown 2 Cliftonville 0
86: SUB (Portadown) - Monteiro for Ukek
81: YELLOW (Portadown) – Traynor
75: Cliftonville subs combine as Donnelly finds the run of Gormley but his angled shot fails to trouble McCarey
73: SUBS (Portadown) - McCawl for Minzamba and Obhakhan for McElroy
68: Portadown with another opening but McElroy's cross proves beyond Ukek with the goalscorer unmarked inside the middle of the box
63: SUB (Cliftonville) - Glynn for McGuinness
61: Teelan tests Ridd from a tight angle inside the penalty area
60: Donnelly has two quickfire sights of goal - one a shot deflected off Traynor's challenge then the second a tame header off the resultant corner-kick
55: SUBS (Cliftonville) - Madden for Parsons, Donnelly for Corrigan and Gormley for McWoods
54: GOAL - Portadown 2 (Ukek) Cliftonville 0
Ukek with a brilliant angled strike from distance to cap a patient and probing Portadown attack
46: SUB (Cliftonville) - Hale for Pettifer
H-T: Portadown 1 Cliftonville 0
39: End-to-end action as Casey heads away Minzamba's instinctive effort off a Teelan cross then Cliftonville break and McWoods cuts the ball back with it eventually falling for the supporting Pettifer to drill goalwards - but, once again, Chapman steps in to make the block
33: Another incisive attacking run by Ukek ends with a pass to find Fyfe and only a sliding Casey interception inside the area stops the former from meeting the cutback cross
30: Vital block by McGuinness in the box to divert McElroy's effort on goal after neat footwork during McCartan's driving run forward
28: YELLOW (Portadown) – Minzamba
27: Attempts to find the run behind the backline of McWoods have formed the bulk of the Cliftonville attacking approach - with the striker finally getting some joy, only for McCarey to save the low shot
13: Another key Chapman header - this time to stop McWoods gaining a sight of goal - after good work on the right by Pepper and Corrigan
6: Goalkeeper McCarey on the edge of his box as Parsons picks up an attempted home clearance but his attempt to find the gaping goal lacks height and Chapman heads away
2: GOAL - Portadown 1 (Fyfe) Cliftonville 0
Ukek cuts inside from the left wing and feeds a pass into the path of Fyfe in space outside the box and he fires home with a drive more under the body than past goalkeeper Ridd
PORTADOWN: Aaron McCarey, Lee Chapman, Paul McElroy, Steven McCullough, Eamon Fyfe, Josh Ukek, Aaron Traynor, James Tellan, Tabu Rabby Minzamba, Shay McCartan, Divin Isamala.
CLIFTONVILLE: Lewis Ridd, Conor Pepper, Sean Stewart, Jonny Addis, Arran Pettifer, Kris Lowe, Odhran Casey, Stephen McGuinness, Eric McWoods, Alex Parsons, Ryan Corrigan.
Subs: David Odumosu, Rory Hale, Ruaidhri Donnelly, Joe Gormley, Micheal Glynn, Jack Keaney, Coran Madden.
Referee: Jamie Robinson.