Portadown manager Niall Currie has challenged his players to “finish this season properly” and says anybody content with their current position won’t be sticking around as he looks to continue driving the Shamrock Park club forward.

The Ports have enjoyed a superb return to life in Northern Ireland’s top-flight, currently sitting seventh and very much in the race to secure a first top-half Premiership finish since 2014/15 with only four points separating them and third-placed Dungannon Swifts, but their bid has taken a blow in recent weeks following consecutive 2-0 defeats to Ballymena United and Coleraine.

Currie’s men will look to get back on track against struggling Carrick Rangers, who ended an 11-game winless league run by beating Larne earlier this week, on Saturday evening and the Ports chief insists he won’t accept anyone resting on their laurels.

"It has been a wonderful season so far but we've told the players that if we're just going to see the season out, if that's going to be the mentality, it certainly isn't our mentality,” he told the club’s media channel. “We need to stay together and finish this season properly.

placeholder image — Portadown manager Niall Currie. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

"If we're going to see the season out then we need to make improvements next season, there's no doubt about that, because we will progress the club and it'll be up to some players whether they are here or not.

"We want to progress, get better and we know this league is going to be even tougher next season, so we have to improve hugely.

"How much we need to improve will depend on performances from players for the rest of the season because if it's going to be a case of seeing the season out, job done, then I want better than that.

"I want ruthless players who will take it right to the end and that's the challenge we'll make to the players until the end of the season.

"We're in a position nobody expected us to be...what we need to do is make sure we finish the season right.

"If anybody wants to take their foot off the gas then they can see the season out with the U20s...I want to trust everyone on the pitch to represent the club.

"Did we represent the club properly (against Coleraine), and I include myself, every person who travelled and paid £15 to watch, did we give them value for anything? Absolutely not. It's not good enough for the club.

"These boys have been a credit and we've had wonderful memories all season - it's important we finish off with some memories too and the opportunity is still there."

Shamrock Park has been a happy hunting ground for the Ports this season, collecting 24 points across 14 matches on home turf – a number only leaders Linfield, Cliftonville and Dungannon Swifts can better – and Currie wants to see a reaction after recent setbacks.

"We were on the back of three or four really good performances and it shows you how quickly things can change,” he added. “We're at home and anybody that comes to Shamrock, we need to make sure we're on it.

"The bottom line is that everything is a collective, from the staff right through to the players, and we have to stay together. We need a big reaction."