MANAGER’S VIEW: ‘We're fighting for every ball’ – Michael O’Connor hails Glenavon derby boost in relegation battle

Paddy Burns, Conor Falls and Paul McGovern found the net for the hosts – with Portadown losing Luke Wilson to a late red card – in the 3-0 scoreline that now puts Glenavon just three points behind Crusaders having played a game extra.

Here’s the verdict of Glenavon boss Michael O’Connor:

OVERALL PERFORMANCE...

"The boys deserved that...it's been a great week for us.

"Obviously beating Bangor last weekend away and then Ballymena on Tuesday getting a point set it up nicely for today.

"The important thing was to back the two performances up with a win and we've certainly done that.

"We knew on transition, when they're attacking they leave themselves really open...I thought we got a lot of success out of the first half. "We broke a few times on the counter but I think the way Portadown play, they're going to put you under pressure, they like to get the ball forward as quick as possible. "They like to pick up seconds but I thought we coped really well...most of our team today won their individual battles and that's what got us the points.

"I thought we started really poor the first 10, 15 minutes, a few mistakes, the boys looked nervous.

"Once we started making a few passes and played our game, we came into it and then we got the goal at the right time. "From the goal, I don't think we got troubled much....it's really important to get the clean sheet as well, it's our first in a lot of games.”

TEAM EVOLUTON...

"The system and formation we're playing, we should have the overload in midfield with the diamond four.

"And they actually end up matching us about half-an-hour into the game because we're getting the control.

"We've got that way where we can play forward, you see the handful of both Conor (Falls) and Nathaniel (Ferris), with Paul McGovern just behind making runs.

"So we can still go long but we also have that system you can still play it out...I thought it worked really well today."

RELEGATION BATTLE...

"When I came here, a lot of people were saying you have no chance there, no chance at all.

"But I've believed from day one that we can (stay up) and I've got that into the players now as well.

"They start believing and the mentality of the players now has changed in the last two or three weeks, you can see a difference in them.

"It's still a long way to go so a lot of hard work to do but we'll keep ticking the boxes and, hopefully, get more points.

"When we came in, it just seemed like the whole club was separated

"I played here, 'Doyler' (Andrew Doyle, assistant manager) is a club legend and 'Fergie' (Mark Ferguson, first-team coach) as well was previously a coach here so we knew we had to get everyone together. "Because it's not just going to be the players that's going to get us out of this.

"It's everyone in the club...the people behind the scenes and the fans as well. "I think you can see that we're fighting for every ball."

TEENAGERS...

"I have to give credit to young Luke McGerrigan...he came in against Bangor, it was his first start under me.

"He just brings a calmness, he's not even 18 yet...Paul McGovern's different class.

"We've two teenagers playing in midfield.

"We brought on the experience of 'Quinny' (Niall Quinn)....we've got that competition for places in the squad, which is really important."