Portway takes hard look in mirror after miss costs Redbridge dear

Kirk Blows Thursday, January 10, 2013
12.08 PM

Ryman One North: Redbridge 0 Waltham Forest 1

Redbridge 0 Waltham Forest 1

»Redbridge co-manager Steve Portway admitted he would have put his house on converting the second-half chance that should have rescued a point for his side on Tuesday evening.

Having fallen behind to an early strike by Dmitri Larin, the hosts had several opportunities to equalise throughout the game.

But the best of them fell to substitute Portway, who met a cross from the right, but somehow fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

And the joint-boss – who scored more than 150 goals in a four-year spell with Gravesend & Northfleet during the 1990s – admitted he should have done so much better.

Portway, 50, said: “I missed a sitter and would have put my mortgage on scoring.

“I was completely alone as the cross came in, but my feet got stuck in the mud and I put the ball wide.

“Those kinds of opportunities are like bread and butter to me, but I looked like an old man out there!

“It was very disappointing and how can I blame other players for missing when I’m doing the same?”

Portway could at least console himself with his side’s vastly improved displays since suffering an 11-0 battering at Heybridge Swifts.

Redbridge were beaten 3-1 at home to Tilbury on Saturday, with Jacob Cleaver opening the scoring for the hosts in the 14th minute.

They fell behind to goals by Sam Cutler and Tom Wraight midway through the first half, before a late Aaron Waters penalty sealed the result.

But Portway was pleased with his side’s response after the Heybridge hiding.

He said: “It was an enormous leap from the previous week.

“And we could have nicked something from the game if we had taken our chances.” The Motormen head to Harlow Town on Saturday before visiting fellow strugglers Ilford next Wednesday.

But Portway insists that his side’s fate does not rest on the Ilford game.

He said: “It’s not a must-win game but a want-to-win game.

“The outcome of the match won’t decide anything on its own.”