Portadown's Aime Koudou was sent-off early in the game at Solitude

The Ports went ahead through Wesley Boyle on six minutes but they then had striker Aime Kouduo sent-off for elbowing David McAlinden.

Kevin Braniff made it 2-0 early in the second half but goals from John Martin and Chris Scannell levelled matters.

Francis Murphy followed up to net after his penalty was saved by David Miskelly before a Ross Redman own goal made it 4-2 and John Convery got a late header.

In the end Portadown ran out of steam after looking like they might win despite being a man down.

Wesley Boyle's strike gave them an ideal start but then Koudou's retaliation on McAlinden saw him dismissed by referee Mark Courtney.

Portadown had protested about Courtney's appointment for the match but Ivory Coast man Koudou can have little complaint about the red card.

Braniff made it 2-0 in the 49th minute running on to Gary McCutcheon's intelligent lay-off.

But, crucially, Cliftonville hit back within two minutes as Martin shot in from 12 yards.

On 58 minutes Scannell ran through and netted after being one-on-one with keeper Miskelly.

The unlucky Redman deflected an attempted clearance into his own net after Ronan Scannell had played the ball across the face of goal.

John Convery's header was deflected into the Cliftonville net on 84 minutes but the Ports could not produce a late equaliser.