Portadown's battling Danske Bank Premiership point against Crusaders dampened by Dungannon Swifts "sickener" says Niall Currie

​Alan O’Sullivan’s late strike secured a point to spark further hope of escaping the Danske Bank Premiership drop and things were looking good for them with Cliftonville leading 1-0 against 11th-placed Swifts heading into the 90th minute.

But how quickly it changed. Padraig Lynch grabbed an equaliser at Solitude before Joe Moore clinched all three points for Dean Shiels’ men to ensure the gap between Portadown and Dungannon is seven points with six games to play.

Portadown took the lead through a composed Paul McElroy finish but two second-half goals from Ross Clarke and Philip Lowry put the visitors back ahead until O’Sullivan’s leveller.

"I thought we were brilliant,” Currie told PortsTV. "We gave ourselves a great platform and fully deserved at least a point.

"We're dealing with a quality side and it's always going to be difficult - they have match winners all over the pitch.

"The substitutions they made at half-time were really positive and fair play to Stephen (Baxter) for doing that. It changed them a wee bit with Ross Clarke's quality and Jordan (Forsythe) going into the six opens it up offensively for them.

"I thought we dealt with things really well and we're over the moon to get a point but we got a bit of a sickener listening to the Cliftonville-Dungannon game.

"That has been a real disappointment to us but it was always the case with us being reliant on other teams.

"We have a decent squad now and we just keep fighting and doing what we're doing. If we keep getting that type of effort and that type of performance we still feel we can get points.

"I'm really proud of the players and we can't do anything about other results.

"Paul has been sensational since the day he came here and has given us a cutting edge. It makes such a difference when you can score goals.

"All we can do is continue to fight right until the end and I hope the town is proud of us and proud of the team because they are giving everything and we're trying our very best to get out of this."