Portadown assistant manager Clifford Adams: The lads have been tremendous for us all year, but we were off it against Dundela

​Goals from former Ports striker Jordan Jenkins and Lee Rea helped Stephen Gourley’s side move level on points with the County Armagh outfit, but they’ve the luxury of two games in hand – as do Institute, who drew 2-2 with struggling Dergview to remain two points adrift in third.

It was just the fourth time this season that Portadown have failed to score, three of which have been on the road and means they’ve now collected 13 points from a possible 27 on their travels to date, compared to 21 in nine matches at Shamrock Park.

Adams felt the Ports came up short in crucial aspects and dubbed the match as “the worst game of football I’ve ever seen in my life”.

"We've given the lads plaudits consistently over the last six or seven weeks, but today we were second to every ball,” he told PortsTV. “I thought they outmuscled us, looked like they wanted it more and it's the worst game of football I've ever seen in my life.

"Barring the penalty, there were two shots on goal with one being a header and the goal they scored.

"We didn't look like we were going to score all day.

"The lads have been tremendous for us all year, but we were off it today.

"You have to earn the right to play and, in my opinion, we didn't earn the right - they did.

"They won their first and second balls and made it really difficult for us.

"We just looked like we were so slow in reacting the whole game.

"It's the first time in a long time doing an interview or from the gaffer that you've got that from us because they've been bang on, but today we just had too many people off the pace."

It was the perfect reaction from Dundela to their shock 4-0 defeat against Ards last weekend, which ended an unbeaten league run of six matches.

"I said last Saturday that there was nobody more disappointed than them and there was no bigger game to get a reaction,” boss Gourley told DunsTV. “They came out from the very first whistle and it was a totally different performance, team and animal compared to last Saturday.

"We didn’t dwell on it and we put the work in during the week – they got their rewards today with the shift they put in.

"Even with the pre-match antics it suited us with the way they played.

"I don’t think anybody can take away that we deserved three points and that’s what we got.

"Those guys are delighted and Lewis (Hunter, goalkeeper) is delighted to get a clean sheet.

"After conceding three early goals last week to being solid today, we’re happy with that and more so happy with the performance.”

Gourley’s men will be back in action on Tuesday evening when they host 11th-placed Dergview with the aim of leapfrogging Portadown into top spot.

"There’s no time to prepare,” he said. “We’re part-time footballers and it’s the weekend.

"The guys have worked all week and I’ve asked them to be professional – there’s no point leaving everything out there today and then turn up on Tuesday to not get three points.”