Ports showed 'naivety' in loss against Reds - Currie

Portadown boss Niall Currie lamented that his side "showed a bit of naivety" as they fell to a 3-2 defeat against Cliftonville at Shamrock Park.

Jordan Gibson had given the Ports a half-time lead, but they were left to rue missed chances in the first half as goals from Joe Sheridan, Ryan Curran and Jack Keaney in the second gave Cliftonville all three points despite Rhys Annett scoring a late consolation.

Currie was disappointed at his side's inability to play as well in the second half as they did the first.

"Great first half, but in the second half, we stopped doing the things that were hurting them," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We stopped turning them, getting them on the back foot, getting it into wide areas, and we gave the ball away too much. We got caught on the ball, we didn't win our first or second balls, and, ultimately, when you don't win first or second balls, you're always going to be in trouble.

"Credit to Cliftonville, they came out and produced a really strong second-half performance, but it doesn't help us when you look at the goals. Josh Ukek has his hand up in the air, which is crazy, and then it's a free header at the back post for Jack Keaney.

"They're poor goals to concede, and even the first one is avoidable. As I've said many times, even in the hard times, Cliftonville are a very good, well-drilled football side. They don't concede the sort of goals we gave up today, and that's ultimately why they're climbing the league."

The defeat leaves the Ports eighth in the table and with games against the likes of Crusaders and Ballymena United around them to come, Currie hopes they can move on quickly.

"We showed a bit of naivety today. We've got to learn very, very quickly that there are small margins in this league," he added.

"For forty-five minutes, we were every bit as good as, if not better than, Cliftonville. In the second half, though, they were much better than us."