Portadown vs Cliftonville FC Prediction & Betting Tips

Form: Cliftonville's swings, Portadown's slump

Cliftonville have been genuinely hard to predict. Across their last 20 matches they've won 10, drawn 1 and lost 9, with goals fairly even at 28 for and 29 against. Their recent Premiership run has swung between wins and defeats almost weekly, beating Bangor and Crusaders but then losing to Glentoran and Larne inside the same month.

Portadown: 20 completed matches; Cliftonville FC: 20 completed matches.

Portadown

20 matches

Win

25% 5 / 20

Draw

25% 5 / 20

Loss

50% 10 / 20

Scored

23

Conceded

33

Difference

-10

Cliftonville FC

20 matches

Win

50% 10 / 20

Draw

0% 0 / 20

Loss

50% 10 / 20

Scored

28

Conceded

30

Difference

-2

Portadown's numbers tell a tougher story. Just 5 wins from 20 matches, with 34 goals conceded along the way. Their September has been rough too, losses to Bangor, Larne and Coleraine, with only a draw against Linfield to show for it.

Portadown's defensive record suggests they'll need to tighten up regardless of who they're facing.

Comparative Team Statistics: Portadown vs Cliftonville FC

Head-to-head: recent meetings split down the middle

These two have crossed paths many times, and Cliftonville have generally had the upper hand across the longer record, including some big wins. But the last few meetings have gone back and forth rather than following a clear trend.

Cliftonville won 3-1 when they last met in September, but Portadown had taken the two league meetings before that. It's swung either way often enough that recent history alone doesn't point strongly in one direction.

Team news: goals shared around for Cliftonville

There's no standout scorer for Cliftonville at the moment. R. Corrigan, R. Curran, Rory Hale, D. Ojo and C. Madden have all chipped in with a single goal apiece across a small number of recent matches. A few players, including Arran Pettifer and M. Glynn, have picked up a yellow card each too.

Cliftonville FC:

Best scorers:

R. Corrigan - 1

R. Curran - 1

Rory Hale - 1

Penalty cards:

Arran Pettifer x 1

M. Glynn x 1

D. Ojo x 1

There's no comparable scoring or discipline data available for Portadown here, and no specific injury news for either side going into this one.

A cup rematch weeks after their league meeting

This is a different competition from most of what's in their recent form, the League Cup rather than the Premiership. The two sides already met in the league on 5 September, with Cliftonville winning 3-1.

That result is fresh in the memory, but cup ties don't always follow league form. Both sides could make changes from the team that started that game, so it's worth treating this as its own contest rather than a straight rerun.