Portadown Round Up
Last updated : 22 October 2004 By Dundee Mad Admin
Dundee continued their pre-season fixtures with a dull and dissappointing 2-1 reverse at the hands of Irish League runners up Portadown.
John Sutton opened the scoring for the Dees in the first minute steadying himself before lashing into the back of the net from the corner of the 6yd box. Two minutes later Portadown levelled through a Vinny Arkins header after Derek Soutar had parried a Gary Hamilton effort into the air. Arkins reacted quickest and sent a looping header over the Dark Blues stranded keeper.
Thereafter there was little of note to report until three minutes from time when Bobby Mann needlessly tangled with Hamilton and brought the Ports striker down in the box. Vinny Arkins made no mistake from the spot and the Dees had no time to come back, although if they'd played all night an equaliser probably wouldn't have come anyway.
The performance aside it was a very enjoyable day and match ball sponsors Dundee Mad and Internet Dees were warmly welcomed to Shamrock Park by Ports Secretary Bill Emerson and his team.
As a result of the sponsorship we have a ball signed by both teams which will be raffles or auctioned later for club funds.
There were around 90 Dees at this match and the numbers will be swelled this week as a much greater number are expected next Saturday for the trip to Ballymena. Amongst the small contingent on Saturday were the Capital Dark Blues whose flag was proudly displayed on the fence in front of the away supporters. This small but noisy band of fans seemed to be enjoying the lovely summer sunshine and were taking the chance to catch a bit of sun on their ample bellies at one point. Maybe one or two of the lads could go on the Neil Jablonski diet which seems to have worked wonders over the summer!!!
Before the match a couple of our posters, Shuntz and Freedee went on a tour of the ground. They are pictured below in the tunnel and at the Away dressing room. Rumour was that Shuntz was looking a game but Jim Duffy turned him down on the grounds that even Bobby Manns shorts werent big enough for our man!! All in all a very enjoyable day was had, in no small measure due to the warm welcome afforded the Dees by our hosts. Everyone at Dundee Mad would like to thank all at Portadown for making us so welcome and for the lovely spread in the boardroom at half time.
Next up for the Dees is Glentoran on Wednesday night and hopefully some of the extra training the squad are now doing will make a difference. They certainly couldn't play much worse than on Saturday!!!
