Portadown are back in Danske Bank Premiership action this Saturday (Sat 4 Sept) when we face Larne at Shamrock Park, kick off 3pm.

Larne come into the game after more than a weeks break following their opening day 4-2 victory over Coleraine last Friday evening while the Ports went down 4-0 to Crusaders in midweek at Seaview.

The last time the two teams met was in April with a last gasp Lee Bonis goal (his third in three games against Larne last season) sealing a 2-1 win for Matthew Tipton’s men at Shamrock Park, Stephen Teggart had given Portadown the lead before Josh Robinson had equalised for Larne.

Larne haven’t rested on their laurels following last seasons impressive campaign which seen them achieve European football for the first time in the clubs history, a European campaign which seen them win all their 3 home games and reach the Europa Conference League Third Qualifying Round. Manager Tiernan Lynch has rung the changes during the summer with Ben Tilney, Luke Wade-Slater, Johnny McMurray, Conor Mitchell, Dylan Mottley-Henry, Conor McKendry and Martin Donnelly all departing while in came Kofi Balmer, Ben Doherty, Cian Bolger, Rohan Ferguson, Mike Argyrides, Navid Nasseri and Thomas Oluwa.

Portadown manager Matthew Tipton had the following to say

We go into the 3rd game of the season tomorrow v a Larne team who have had an excellent time of it this summer with their European exploits & we know we will be facing a team that is very confident in their style of play & we will have to be fully on our game from the first minute.

Whilst Tuesdays result was very disappointing on reflection after looking at the video & going through the match data there was positives to take from the game. What we have to do is make sure that the small individual errors that happen during the course of the game don’t manifest into massive errors that then lead to goals as what happened on Tuesday.

In terms of injury/illness we should have Sam Warde, Nathan Kerr, Sam Glenfield & Reece Jordan available again but Chris Lavery & Barney McKeown are both out. Harry Anderson is still away with the u21 squad however Jethren Barr’s international clearance is now through.

The 3 long term absentees are working very hard on their rehab with our new physio Scott Hughes really putting them through the work in a professional manner that the boys seem to be responding to well. We won’t see any of them until at least the new year which feels like a long time away but watching them work I know they will comeback in top condition.

 

 

Match tickets for the game are available to purchase via https://tickets.portadownfc.co.uk/fixtures/

 

The officials are – Referee – Lee Tavinder / Assistant 1 – John Doherty / Assistant 2 – Bogdan Sfirloaga / 4th official – Louise Thompson

 

The game will be live streamed by on We Are Ports TV LIVE via https://www.performatv.com/club?club=portadown-fc

 

Match Sponsor – Four Star Pizza

Match Ball Sponsor – David Berry

 

Last Five Head to Head

  • Tuesday 20 April 2021 – Portadown 2 (Teggart, Bonis) Larne 1 (Robinson)
  • Tuesday 6 April 2021 – Portadown 1 (Bonis) Larne 2 (Mitchell (pen), Hale)
  • Tuesday 9 February 2021 – Larne 2 (Mottley-Henry, Hale) Portadown 2 (Guy, Bonis)
  • Saturday 6 April 2019 – Larne 3 (Cosgrove, Tilney, McDaid) Portadown 0
  • Saturday 9 February 2019 – Portadown 1 (Salley) Larne 2 (Ramsey. McDaid)

 

Last Five Head to Head at Shamrock Park (All competitions)

  • Tuesday 20 April 2021 – Portadown 2 (Teggart, Bonis) Larne 1 (Robinson)
  • Tuesday 6 April 2021 – Portadown 1 (Bonis) Larne 2 (Mitchell (pen), Hale)
  • Saturday 9 February 2019 – Portadown 1 (Salley) Larne 2 (Ramsey. McDaid)
  • Saturday 10 November 2018 – Portadown 0 Larne 3 (McCallum og, McNally, Donnelly)
  • Tuesday 30 January 2018 – Portadown 2 (Brennan, C.Lavery) Larne 2 (Scullion x2)