After celebrating a first Boxing Day triumph over Glenavon as Portadown manager, Niall Currie insists there’s no reason his side shouldn’t be looking up the Premiership table with key players still to return.

Luke Wilson’s first half strike proved decisive for the Ports at Shamrock Park as they defeated the Lurgan Blues for the first time on December 26 since 2012.

The result means Currie’s men have now won four of their last six league matches and moved into seventh, sitting one point behind sixth-placed Cliftonville, who have played three fewer games.

Across the previous five contested by each top-flight team, only leaders Larne (13) and Dungannon Swifts (10) have collected more points than Portadown (nine) while only Cliftonville (12) and the Swifts (11) have scored more goals than their 10 in that time.

placeholder image — Portadown's Luke Wilson celebrates his goal. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

After sealing their Premiership return ahead of last season, the Co Armagh club competed for a top-half spot until the final match before the split and Currie wants to focus on further progression.

“Why not (look up the table)?” he told the club’s media channel. “We still have Shay McCartan to come back and Ray Tulloch, they are two huge players for us.

"Our fans will see how big those two guys are for the rest of the season.

"I think we’ve had a really decent season...I know there’s been a lot of crisis moments and it’s been up and down, but we’ve had a lot of hurdles this season, a lot of serious injuries and been hit hard.

"I have no complaints about the players over the last six or seven weeks. I know a lot of people look at Dungannon last weekend, but I think we have put in some really decent performances and picked up big points against teams around us – that’s the critical thing.

"We’ve always been able to pull something out of the hat. The players deserve credit but I think there’s plenty of room for us to still improve...if we can get those couple of guys back it gives us wonderful options again.

"Maybe we will add one or two, I don’t think we need much surgery to be honest, but we will see how it goes.”

Portadown have now kept three clean sheets in their last four matches and Currie praised his side’s defensive effort to deny a Glenavon side who were coming off victory over Linfield.

"I’m very proud, our supporters have waited a long, long time for a day like that,” he added. “We all know Boxing Day is a special one and we’ve been on the wrong side of things for a long time against Glenavon.

"It wasn’t pretty on the eye by any means, but it was a day where it’s all about the result and I’m over the moon.

"We looked very solid. I thought we had a doggedness about us and our backline was superb, goalkeeper was superb, two midfielders were great as well.

"Although we didn’t expand the game and create many chances, neither did they really...it was one of those 50/50 games but thankfully we have came out on top.

"I thought our transitions were average today and we didn’t break out and look a threat like we have done many times this season.

"We can thank our goalkeeper, defence and midfield for having that bit between their teeth and putting bodies on the line.”