WHAT THE MANAGER SAID: Portadown's Niall Currie refusing to 'go at the players' despite defeat
Here’s the post-match verdict from Portadown manager Niall Currie after a 1-0 loss to Ballymena United in the Shamrock Park clash:
PERFORMANCE...
"I've been managing a long time and thought we were well in control of the game.
"If you look at the possession stats you'll see that.
"We're normally the hunters, the team who can sit in, keep it tight and break out.
"We'd a lot of the ball today and, to be fair to Ballymena, they were resolute with two banks.
"We had to come up with the solutions and, unfortunately, it was one of those days if we'd played to midnight we wouldn't have scored.
"It just wasn't happening...we got into great areas.
"The final ball wasn't there, scuffed shots not there...just one of those days, I've seen them happen before.
"But, certainly not in the Premiership...I don't think I've had a team that dominated the ball as much, which I'm very happy with.
"Ultimately, we weren't able to get over the line in the final third of the pitch today.
"We made the wrong decisions, our quality wasn't there in the wide areas, our crossing levels weren't there.
"Our composure, our ball retention in the last third wasn't there and we were a wee bit wasteful.
"I don't think anyone could say we didn't deserve something from the game today but, congratulations to Ballymena, they were very resolute.”
REACTION HOPE...
"I'm not really going to go at the players at all - I'm disappointed with the results but certainly not disappointed with the performance.
"I think there's a lot to build on here, we're still in the embryo stage but will get there and we've a lot of positives.
"We want to be that team that goes right to the end and we tried everything.
"We had two up top, we had four up top at the end, we went three at the back...ultimately it just wasn't to be.
"I'm a great believer that performances are very important and that was another good performance today.
"You could see the reaction of the supporters coming off the pitch...they could see a team that gave everything.
"There's no doubt that we tried every avenue...sometimes it happens that the quality just wasn't there in the final third.
"But we've a really good bunch of players and people so we've got to dust that down.
"Be hurt, be disappointed but it’s about how you come back and bounce back.
"It's not about losing a game of football sometimes but how you respond.”
GARY THOMPSON...
"Gary has a very serious deep cut, I think he's 12 or 14 stitches, it's quite deep.
"Those situations are normally okay after seven days so he'll miss the game on Tuesday night (BetMcLean Cup) but we'd like to think he'll be okay for next Saturday (Sports Direct Premiership)."