WHAT THE MANAGER SAID: Niall Currie says his Portadown 'failed to manage the game' in Ballymena loss

Here’s what he had to say after Ballymena United collected all three points courtesy of a 2-0 win:

THOUGHTS ON THE DEFEAT:

"Whenever we beat a team in this league, apparently it's our pitch that is so bad at Shamrock Park.

"I've heard that a few times against the big-boys...but our pitch isn't quite as bad as this.

"I'm not using that as an excuse. The bottom line is that on a pitch like that it's all about the first and second balls.

"It's about reactions to small moments as well and ultimately, we didn't manage the game well today.

GOING IN AT HALF-TIME BEHIND:

"I was disappointed we went in 1-0 down.

"Lee Chapman hit the post but we weren't troubled at our end and Aaron McCarey didn't have much to do.

"We are disappointed with the goal because we have gone to sleep and given a cheap free-kick away.

"Nobody picked Hood up at the edge of the box and it's a wonder-strike but you still have to look at small things.

SECOND-HALF PERFORMANCE:

"I was more concerned by that.

"I thought we started the second-half reasonably well and were on top for 10 or 15 minutes.

"But I remember looking over at the clock and Ballymena breaking away and it was 65 minutes and we were man for man at the back - I don't coach that.

"There was 25 minutes remaining in the game plus your injury-time, so to go hari-kari and go man for man at 65 minutes was a huge, huge problem.

"I tried to get my message across but it happened again and again where players wanted to go and get the equaliser.

"Ultimately, the balance of the game looked towards Ballymena because they broke out us on two or three times because we left ourselves wide open.

"When you look back at the game, you think about those chances where Ballymena broke out on us but I think that's very avoidable.