Niall Currie praises Portadown star as first goal after lengthy injury absence puts club on cusp of Premiership promotion

McElroy came off the bench to ease any potential nerves by netting in the 93rd minute – his first goal since October following four months on the sidelines with a knee injury – to seal a 3-1 victory over H&W Welders with Eamon Fyfe and Ryan Mayse also on target.

That result combined with Bangor’s win over Dundela at Wilgar Park means the Ports are now four points clear at the summit with two matches to play and a win against the Duns, who are one of Currie’s former teams, on Saturday would finish the job.

Ex-Linfield and Ballymena United forward McElroy had started this campaign by netting seven times in 11 league outings, including a hat-trick against Annagh United, and will now be hoping to finish in fine style too.

"It has been a hard time and season for Paul,” Currie told the club’s media channel. “That injury set him back a long way and I know Paul is the sort of character that feels he's ready to go at any stage, but it takes time after four months out.

"Fingers crossed he's peaking at the right time now...he came off the bench and made a big impact. Goals change confidence in strikers so hopefully that will kick him on and get us to where we need to get next week."

January recruit Ciaran Dobbin was also able to make his first start in two months against the Welders while captain Gary Thompson returned after missing last weekend’s 4-2 defeat to neighbours Annagh United, who kept their own promotion hopes alive by beating Institute on Saturday.

"Getting Ciaran Dobbin available again is huge and everybody can see the difference he makes to the dynamic of our team with the third man runs and coming from deep areas,” added Currie. “It's great to get him back and getting Gary Thompson back was huge.

"We thoroughly deserved the points and were a bit frustrated that we had to bring it into squeaky bum time again before we finished the job.

"Massive credit goes to the players because we've been on the end of a few sickening results this season where our performance levels have been poor, but we've always bounced back."

It hasn’t always been straightforward for Portadown this season, losing three of four league matches in December and having to battle with Dundela, Bangor and Institute for long stretches, but destiny is now in their own hands.

The January transfer window was a key turning point with Currie bringing in the likes of Dobbin, Jack Henderson and Zach Barr, and the Ports chief admits there’s excitement heading into the Dundela clash.

"We seem to like to do everything the hard way, but if that means we're sitting in the situation we are now then so be it,” he said. “We're all excited and we got a massive performance.

"We're so looking forward to next week and hopefully there'll be a bumper crowd here. Lets not celebrate anything - we have to make sure we're at our levels and perform next week or there'll be a pin in the balloon moment. We understand the opportunity we have and we look forward to it."