Currie convinced Reds goal did not cross line

Portadown manager Niall Currie described the awarding of Cliftonville's second goal in Wednesday night's Irish Premiership game as a "sickener", adding he was convinced it didn't cross the line.

After Ports goalkeeper Alex Moore dropped and quickly regathered Rory Hale's free-kick, linesman Gavin Hegarty raised his flag and referee Declan Hassan awarded the goal with just three minutes remaining.

It sealed a 2-0 win for the visitors at Shamrock Park after Joe Sheridan's early opener and moved the Reds nine points clear of eighth-placed Portadown in the race for a top-six finish.

"We've seen it and I don't know how they [the officials] are going to come back from this one," said Currie.

"You never know what you're going to hear. There's going to be something coming out. His feet are behind the line. The ball is clearly where the crossbar is when he catches it.

"I must certainly know 150% the ball doesn't bounce behind the line. The ball bounces just on the white line or ahead of the white line, so I don't know what to say really. I'm speechless."

In September, Currie was left aggrieved when Matthew Fitzpatrick's effort was adjudged to have crossed the line to give Linfield a 2-0 lead in a 3-0 win over the Ports at Windsor Park.

Wednesday's controversy came less than a week after the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) announced VAR would be used in this month's BetMcLean Cup final between Linfield and Glentoran.

When asked if Hale's goal strengthens the argument for the full-time implementation of technology in the Irish League, Currie said he would "go back to basics".

"I understand that VAR will confirm whether it was over the line or not - and I'm fairly sure it would've confirmed that it wasn't over the line," he added.

"For me, the linesman has to be 100%. If he's 99.5% then he can not give it. It's as simple as that. He's got to be 100%. And I can tell you something, he's a brave, brave man if he thought that was 100% over the line - I can tell you. He's made the call."

He added: "In regards to VAR, yes, it would have confirmed that it didn't cross the line - we're quite sure about that - but what I would say is that if he's 100%, that's some call.

"That is some call from him. We'll see what comes out of it but again, we're feeling a bit hard done by."

When asked about the incident, Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton said: "I think it was the assistant that gave it so Portadown are again involved in this controversy.

"I haven't seen it so I can't comment but again, the Portadown bench were particularly upset because they felt it hadn't gone over the line."