Northern Ireland round-up: Portadown stay ahead
Saturday, March 23, 2002
Article summary
Irish league leaders Portadown FC moved closer to the title after drawing with Linfield FC.
Article body
Portadown dominate
Portadown dominated Linfield at Shamrock Park, but it was the latter team who were the more frustrated by the stalemate. The visitors were left seven points behind their hosts in third place, and had manager David Jeffrey sent off for their troubles.
Glentoran lucky
Meanwhile, Glentoran were lucky to hold bottom club Ards FC at The Oval. Ards went ahead 15 minutes from time and it took a disputed late penalty from Chris Walker to secure a 1-1 draw for the home side.
Coleraine undone
There was more good news for Portadown with Coleraine FC's 2-1 home defeat by lowly Crusaders FC. Coleraine, who lost manager Marty Quinn to a red card, were undone by goals either side of the interval by Raymond Campbell and Lee Galbraith. Ian McCoosh reduced the deficit but it was too little too late.
Woe for Cliftonville
Elsewhere, Cliftonville FC's home woes continued as Glenavon FC ended a run of four straight losses with a 1-0 victory at Solitude. The only goal came after just three minutes from Conor Forker.
