Ferguson rallies United players for cup final bid

The Sky Blues take on Portadown at the Oval (5.30pm), having stared elimination in the face in each of the previous two rounds against Cliftonville and Harland & Wolff Welders.

“It’s an Irish Cup semi-final and regardless of who you’re playing against, it will be a tough, tough game,” said Ferguson.

“Portadown have good players who can play out of position so the loss of their two suspended players isn’t going to make that big a difference, albeit Chris Casement and Robbie Garrett have been two of their best players this year.

“An Irish Cup semi-final can go any way - the team who turns up on the day will be the one who goes through.

“If we go with the attitude of trying to out-work Portadown, trying to create more chances and defending desperately well, we can win the game.

“We conceded five in our last meeting with Portadown but also scored five - although I’d rather not have that sort of heart attack material again!

“I wouldn’t like to go through that range of emotions again - if it’s a drab 1-0 win I’ll take that but if we put in a performance we have a chance of being back in the Irish Cup final.”

The manager hopes to have defender Johnny Taylor available after his foot injuiry sustained in the quarter-final win over Harland & Wolff Welders proved to be not as serious as first thought.

“Johnny is a tough lad and he is determined to make Saturday’s game, but we will have to wait and see,” said ferguson, who won’t have the services of another centre-back, Davy Munster, who sustained a groin strain in training.

Gary Thompson and David Cushley have completed bans and will be available for selection.

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