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Currie calls for "common sense" in fixture schedule

Currie calls for "common sense" in fixture schedule

BBC News11 hours ago
Portadown manager Niall Currie insists "common sense has to prevail at some stage" in terms of fixture planning as his team prepares for its third game in the space of a week.The Ports travel to Inver Park on Friday (19:45 BST) seeking to bounce back from Tuesday's 2-0 home defeat to Ballymena United, following their first win of the season away to Dungannon Swifts on Saturday.Larne also played in midweek when being forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at Cliftonville, but their planned game last weekend against Crusaders was postponed due to their involvement in Europe.Currie feels his team has been put at a disadvantage this week with Larne's full-time status another factor counting against his players for a Friday game."I'm all for Friday night games but common sense has to prevail at some stage," he told BBC Sport NI after Tuesday's defeat."To ask part time footballers to play three games in six days, I'm baffled by it."Larne has been very clever. Their guys will be sitting watching analysis videos all day and my guys will come off the scaffolding roof and then head to Larne on Friday night."For me, certain circumstances need looked at and for us to be playing on a Friday night after another two-day turnaround is crazy stuff. Hopefully they will look at that in future, but all we can do is rest them up and see who is available on Friday. We know we're in for a tough night but you never know."
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