League leaders Coleraine return to Shamrock Park just six weeks after running out comfortable 4-1 winners, but may find their hosts in less welcoming mood this afternoon.

Niall Currie guided his side to a deserved 2-0 win over Linfield here eight days ago and, to the surprise of virtually no-one, opts to go with the same starting XI.

Bannsiders' boss Ruaidhri Higgins makes the minimum change to the team which swept aside the challenge of Dungannon Swifts a week ago as club captain Lyndon Kane replaces Cameron Stewart in defence.

New signing, former Wales under-21 goalkeeper Lewis Webb, comes straight into the match day squad and is named among the replacements.

Portadown: McCarey, Isamala, Altintop, MacKinnon, Wilson, Wylie, McCullough, Fife, Teelan, Thompson (c), Tulloch.

Subs: Rea, Chapman, Mayse, Gibson, Minzamba, Annett, Quinn.

Coleraine: Harris, Kane (c), Jarvis, Boyle, Patching, Shevlin, Cooper, Ives, Glackin, Dunne, Okoro.

Subs: Webb, Long, Lyons-Foster, McGregor, Stewart, McDonald, McManus.

Referee: Declan Hassan.

Image source, BBC Sport

Stephen Baxter makes two changes to the starting XI who were defeated 1-0 by Glenavon last weekend with BJ Burns and Kyle Cherry replacing Ryan Waide and Aidan Steele.

As for the away side, there are seven switches to the Cliftonville side that were defeated by Larne.

Jonny Addis, Eric McWoods, Ryan Curran, Shaun Leppard, Jack Keaney, Keevan Hawthorne and Joseph Sherridan come into the line-up.

Carrick Rangers: Gartside, Callacher, Burns, McCullough, McKay, Scott, Crowe, Cherry, Heatley, Snoddy, Gibson.

Subs: Pengelly, Waide, Steele, Buchanan-Rolleston, James, Grills, McCawl.

Cliftonville: Morrison, Keaney, Addis, Leppard, Lavery, Hale, Wilson, Hawthorne, Sheridan, McWoods, Curran.

Subs: Ridd, Pepper, Bermingham, Gordon, McCay, Gormley, Barr.

Image source, bbc

Both managers make one change apiece from their respective games last weekend.

Crusaders, who were beaten at Bangor, recall Lewis Barr in defence in place of Oli McCart.

Glens boss Declan Devine, back in the dugout after completing his suspension, makes one change in midfield from the side which started last Saturday's win over Ballymena, with Josh Kelly replacing Joe Thomson.

Crusaders: Tuffey, Forsythe, Odhran McCart, Easton, Barr, O'Rourke, Williamson, Anderson, Dunlop, Brooks, Bryden.

Subs: Dibaga, Hamilton, Donnelly, Beattie, Harrison, Ritchie, Karrabecaj.

Glentoran: Mills, Cooney, McEleney, Kane, Coll, Singleton, Kelly, Palmer, Connolly, Jenkins, Hoban.

Subs: Watt, Pattisson, Ferris, Burt, Kamara, Fisher, Russell.

Image source, BBC Sport

Philip Major
Sportsound summariser

Coleraine seem to have gelled quite quickly. I think they are reliant on Charles Dunne at the back, I think he makes a real difference to them.

They are scoring goals, defending well and they are certainly going to be one of the teams that are in or around at the end of the season.

A new set of fixtures to be livestreamed by BBC Sport NI on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website have been announced.

Image source, BBC Sport

Ballymena United have already beaten Linfield once this season with a 1-0 win back in September at the Showgrounds, so David Healy will be hoping for a different outcome this afternoon to avoid a third straight defeat for his side.

The Sky Blues have lost their last two matches to Glentoran and Coleraine respectively, so will seek to avoid a third straight defeat to title contenders this afternoon, with a first victory at Windsor Park since February 2014 in their sights.

In terms of team news, Blues boss Healy makes a total of nine changes to his side following Tuesday's 4-1 thumping at Solitude in the County Antrim Shield. Euan East and Sam Taylor are the only two to retain their starting spots.

Jim Ervin, meanwhile, makes three changes of his own from last weekend's 2-0 defeat at the Oval. In come Daire O'Connor, Patrick McEleney and James Hood for the departing Ben Kennedy, Stephen O'Donnell and Joel Thompson.

Linfield: Johns, East, Roscoe, Hall, Brown, Millar (capt), Baird, McClean, Taylor, Fitzpatrick, Offord.

Subs: Walsh, Morrison, McCullough, Archer, Yates, Allen, McGee.

Ballymena United: O'Neill (capt), Nelson, Toure, McEleney, O'Connor, Clarke, McCurry, Edogun, McCallion, Corbally, Hood.

Subs: Breen, Lafferty, Gould, Gawne, O'Donnell, Thompson, Taylor.

Image source, BBC Sport

Philip Major
Sportsound summariser

It was no fluke the result against Linfield, Portadown performed really well, and they deserved the victory.

I think it was a really important victory and statement from Portadown.

Former Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty says Irish Premiership champions Linfield are "probably the worst run club I've ever seen in my life".

Lafferty spent the second half of the 2022-23 season at Linfield, where he failed to score a goal in eight appearances.

Speaking on the Open Goal podcast, the 38-year-old said he "literally could have left after two weeks", adding the way the Windsor Park club was run "was a shambles".

He said the job that Linfield manager David Healy, who has won six Irish League titles, has done is "incredible" and he "respects him so much".

"I'm happy I played with Linfield because they were my team growing up," Lafferty said.

"It's probably the worst run club I've ever seen in my life. I'm at Johnstone Burgh in junior football and they are run better than Linfield."

He added: "Linfield are the biggest club in Northern Ireland but, honestly, it was a shambles.

"I didn't score for them, and I literally could have left after two weeks. I wasn't enjoying my time there."

In a statement to BBC Sport NI, Linfield said they "totally refute the allegations made by our former player made about his short time at the club".

Image source, Presseye

Cliftonville defeated 10-man Linfield 4-1 to reach the semi-finals of the County Antrim Shield, as Larne beat Ballymacash Rangers 3-0, on Tuesday.

Rory Hale and Keevan Hawthorne put Cliftonville two up at Solitude but Callumn Morrison pulled a goal back in the 44th minute.

However, the game turned when Linfield forward Chris McKee was shown a straight red card in additional time for a tackle on Hale.

Jim Magilton's side made the most of their man advantage after the restart and Ryan Curran and Thomas Lavery puts the Reds in control.

In Tuesday's other quarter-final at the Bluebell Stadium, Larne beat Premier Intermediate side Ballymacash Rangers 3-0.

Tomas Cosgrove headed in the opening goal on the half-hour mark and Cormac Austin added a second with 12 minutes to play.

Conor McKendry scored a third in injury time to secure the win for Larne, who have won the Shield four seasons in a row before last year's final defeat by Glentoran.

Larne and Cliftonville complete the line-up for the last four after Ballymena United beat Newington and Carrick Rangers defeated Glentoran on penalties on 14 October.

Image source, Presseye

All 12 Irish Premiership sides are in action today with an intriguing set of fixtures to whet the appetite on this autumnal Saturday.

Among the five 15:00 BST kick-offs, leaders Coleraine travel to face Portadown, while second-placed Glentoran make the short journey across Belfast to face Crusaders at Seaview.

Linfield will aim to bounce back from consecutive defeats to Portadown in the Premiership and Cliftonville in the County Antrim Shield respectively when they entertain Ballymena United at Windsor Park.

Carrick Rangers host Cliftonville at Taylors Avenue and Dungannon Swifts are at home to a Glenavon team who picked up their first points of the season under new manager Michael O'Connor seven days ago.

In the day's 17:30 game, Larne, who sit third, play host to a Bangor side who have won their past three league matches to elevate themselves up to fourth place in the table.

We'll have audio coverage of the day's action on Sportsound from 14:00 through to 18:00, plus text updates, in-play clips, a report and highlights from all the day's top flight games on the BBC Sport website.

Stay with us to enjoy all the drama as it unfolds, you won't miss a thing!

Image source, BBC Sport