Niall Currie's 'everyone pulling in the same direction' belief behind Portadown climb

​Steven McCullough scored the sole goal against Crusaders on an afternoon in which heavy rain and strong winds restricted the quality of football but had little impact on home joy at the final whistle.

Currie accepts sitting second in the top-flight standings following second-tier promotion means little in December but serves as reward for eye-catching results by a Ports side previously expected to face a fight against the drop.

"We're just the backing crew behind the players...our boys have invested themselves in everything we're doing,” said Currie. "They trust us, we trust them and the bottom line is it's one game at a time because I've seen it change very, very quickly.

"But you make hay while the sun shines...at the minute there's a lot of smiles around the place.

"We're all satisfied but you've got to be real as well and we're not envisaging sitting in this position come the end of the season.

"We want to do the very best we can, we have that target in the changing rooms nobody knows about that we feel will keep the club in this league next year.

"Then after that...we'll see.

"But one step at a time...that's a new squad.

"We had to bring in 15, 16 players.

"These boys are punching well above their weight but feet on the ground and that's how we'll move forward.

"We've got great momentum at the minute...the atmosphere is wonderful around the place with our supporters, with our players, with our staff and Boardroom.

"Everything's together, everyone pulling in the same direction at the minute and long may it continue.

"We understand football and everything can change in a couple of games so I've told the players not to worry about league tables.

"Let's just concentrate on winning every game we go out to play.

"And that's exactly what the mantra will be....one game at a time.

"Let's make sure we are at our levels, we try to be at our best."

Currie reserved special pride for the defensive resolve – especially in the face of the “different” challenge provided by a “bombardment” of long throw-ins from Crusaders’ Jordan Forsythe.

"It was a bombardment today...it was strange actually when you see Jordan walking across the pitch and throwing balls half the length of the pitch into the box at every opportunity,” said Currie. “It's not too often you face that...it's different, the goalkeeper kicks the ball 60 yards, your player accidentally hits it out and all of a sudden you're getting like a corner-kick against you.

"I haven't seen it in a long time, I knew Jordan had a long throw-in but, boy, he could throw it in from all angles today.​​​

"We got our heads on things, we threw our bodies on the line...clean sheets make all the difference.”