Aaron Duke challenged to ‘relight his fire’ with loan move from Portadown

The 23-year-old striker will finish his season back leading the line with a former club in Dollingstown within the Bluefin Sport Premier Intermediate League following discussions with Tipton over game time at the Ports.

“Aaron has been asking me for a month about the possibility of going on loan to get some game time, however, I felt that he could still be a good option for us going forward,” said Tipton on the club’s official website. “His lack of game time has come through the form of the team so far this season.

“This has had a knock-on effect on Aaron’s fitness levels and general conditioning, so we are hoping this spell of games will relight his fire to come back to us in the summer in peak physical condition.”

Portadown may hold a six-point lead over main title rivals Ballinamallard United but Tipton is refusing to allow standards to slack off.

A visit to Dergview this weekend offers a fixture traditionally considered a tough away day and Tipton feels squad intensity on all fronts remains key moving forward.

“On Saturday we showed resilience to salvage a point in injury-time against Ballinamallard but did not maintain the level of intensity across the game overall,” said Tipton. “The attitude of the players has been amazing all season but we strive for complete consistency in our work and it will be the same at Dergview.

“We might still have the best defensive record in the division but, after conceding five goals in the past two games, we want to get back to keeping clean sheets.

“We will always respect the opposition but want to go into games with the intensity of our own performance from the first whistle and keep it going.

“We have 13 games left and 25 gone so the finish line is not in sight yet.”