Niall Currie admits some Portadown players are fighting for their futures after 'absolutely shocking' Carrick Rangers defeat
Portadown manager Niall Currie admits some of his players are fighting for their futures over the remaining weeks of this season after falling to a 4-1 defeat against Carrick Rangers.
The Ports, newly promoted ahead of the current campaign, preserved their top-flight status comfortably this season and only missed out on a top-half spot in the final pre-split fixture against Coleraine.
Currie’s men have now fallen five points behind Cliftonville in the race for a European play-off berth after Saturday’s setback at Taylors Avenue, meaning they’ve won just one of their last seven league matches.
The Shamrock Park outfit were without several key players this weekend – Baris Altintop, Lewis MacKinnon, Aaron McCarey and Gary Thompson were all unavailable due to injury – but Currie wasn’t using that as an excuse and insists some players will have to step up if they want to remain at the club next season.
"The top players drive on, are ruthless and we'll see over the next three games,” Currie told the club’s media channel. “A few boys might think it's job done, but it'll not be job done if they are away from the club next season and that's the truth.
"Our supporters were brilliant today, not one critical word did I hear but just a few hands out going 'what was that?' and rightly so. They are well within their rights.
"I want to see a ruthlessness and desire for the rest of this season and that will show me in regards to can we progress for next season with some of them. This league is going to get a lot harder and we have to progress the club.
"We're in a situation where it's job done to a certain degree, but for me it's about finishing the season properly and that was nowhere near the levels. There's no excuse.
"We want to progress and know next year is going to be even harder. How we finish this season will have a huge impact in who comes and who goes...the bottom line is if we're going to get a performance like that when we're fighting for seventh then we're going to have to be a bit busier than we thought.
"It doesn't mean an overhaul, we've 11 players already signed up, but we need to improve and make sure we have consistency. That's what we'll be doing in the summer to make sure we bring in what we need."
Saturday marked only the third time this season that Portadown have conceded more than two goals – the previous two came in consecutive weeks against Linfield and Crusaders – and Currie was scathing in his assessment.
"Goals change games and if you look at all four goals today they are atrocious, absolutely shocking,” he added. “It would be hard to find them at kids level, never mind anything else.
"It was a really poor day.
"We were missing a few players...Lewis and Baris are big losses, Gary Thompson is a huge loss, but it gives others opportunities.
"We had something huge to play for to stay in touch with Cliftonville. They'll be favourites for seventh but you want to stretch the season out.
"It was a hugely disappointing day and I think we carried seven players. There are two or three players who can come out with any decent credit but at this level you can't carry that.”