Portadown boss Niall Currie praises midfielder for role in Ballymena United victory: "He knows that I love him and he knows I'm a big fan of his."

The 23-year-old – who Currie named as captain aged 16 during his first spell in charge – suffered a cruciate ligament injury in April 2021 and didn’t make a league appearance last season but has played 21 times in the Danske Bank Premiership in the current campaign.

Wilson was named man-of-the-match for his performance in the win against Ballymena that cut Portadown’s gap to 11th-placed Dungannon Swifts to five points with four games left to play.

"Anybody knows from my first time at the club that I rate Luke Wilson very highly,” Currie told PortsTV. “He has had an awful time with injuries and it takes an awful lot to come back from cruciate’s these days.

"When I came in he had to get the knee drained and it was all about rehab so we did miss him in the early days.

"I still think Luke has another 10% in him with regards to he is fit now and he's flying - I still think he has 10% in him in regards to the comeback and being back at his very, very best.

"You can see when he's like he is tonight he's hard to play against. He leads by example and that's why I named him captain when I was here the first time at 16 years of age, that's why I gave him a three-year deal.

"He knows that I love him and he knows I'm a big fan of his. He knows that about me and he knows I will back him 100% so it gives him the confidence to go out and play.

"He showed unbelievable leadership and that's not by going around ranting and raving - he showed it in his performance.

"Special praise to Josh (Archer) who was outstanding tonight and so was Eoghan (McCawl). This was a night for collective and I think we could have had 11 man-of-the-matches.

"Luke is a special boy and a hometown boy - I think everybody loves that. Special praise goes to all the players because they were sensational."

Portadown secured victory without striker Paul McElroy, who was handed a three-match ban following last weekend’s straight red card during a 5-1 defeat to Glentoran at The Oval.

The County Armagh club appealed to have McElroy’s dismissal overturned but that was rejected by the IFA Disciplinary Committee and he is now set to miss crucial home matches against Newry City (Tuesday) and Carrick Rangers (Saturday).

"It's a huge, huge blow losing Paul McElroy,” added Currie. “It's an extremely harsh sending off and it sometimes mystifies me.

"If there is a directive where you push somebody in the chest now and it's a red card people would be safer telling the clubs that.

"It's very frustrating to lose a top player and you can see what he brought to us. Hopefully we can dig in, get through the next couple of games and have him back for the last few.

"Ultimately it's about the players tonight and the last thing I said to them before going out was 'make the town proud and make sure the town sees they have a team that cares' and I think all our supporters know that the players really care and that has to be the main focus always.

"They were magnificent and fully deserve every compliment that comes their way.”