FIVE STAR REDS BOUNCE BACK WITH A BANG
Michael McCrudden bagged a hat-trick as Cliftonville bounced back to crush Portadown at Solitude.
After a bright start for the Reds it was perhaps no surprise when they moved in front midway through the first half. McCrudden found space in a crowded box to turn the ball home after Conor McMenamin's low cross caused a bit of a scramble in front of goal.
McMenamin himself might have made it 2-0 soon after but Paul Finnegan was on hand to clear his sweeping effort off the line.
But McCrudden did double Cliftonville's lead on 36 minutes, albeit somewhat fortunately after Ports keeper Scott Pengelly allowed his weak shot to go through his hands into the net.
The Reds kept pushing for a third, eventually finding it just before the hour after a fierce Chris Curran drive was adjudged to have been handled and, from the subsequent spot-kick, McCrudden duly stepped up to convert.
It was 4-0 with five minutes remaining, substitute Daire O'Connor pouncing on the rebound after Joe Gormley's initial penalty was turned onto the post by Pengelly.
And O'Connor doubled his tally three minutes after that to complete the scoring with a low 20-yard strike into the bottom right corner.
Cliftonville: Brush, McDermott, Breen, O'Reilly, C. Curran, McCrudden, McMenamin, Foster, Donnelly, Bagnall, Gormley subs Dunne (not used), O'Connor (replaced McCrudden 78), R. Curran (not used), McKee (not used), Doherty (replaced Donnelly 62), Casey (replaced McDermott 69), Maguire (not used)
Portadown: Pengelly, Crane, Finnegan, McKeown, Tipton, Murray, Wilson, Croskery, McNally, Teggart, Kerr subs McCallum (replaced McNally 46), Lavery (not used), Salley (replaced Teggart 62), Bonis (replaced McKeown 46), McGrandles (not used), Conaty (not used), Healy (not used)
Substitution 
Substitution 
