Portadown manager Niall Currie feels it's "three points or bust" in Danske Bank Premiership clash with Newry City

The Ports had won two league games in a row against Glenavon and Dungannon Swifts to breathe new life into their hopes of staying up, but momentum was brought to a screeching halt last weekend when they succumbed to Carrick Rangers.

That defeat leaves them eight points adrift of 11th-placed Swifts and 11 points shy of Newry with eight games left to play, meaning it’s almost vital they leave the Showgrounds with a victory on Saturday evening if they want to survive the drop.

"It's three points or bust if we're going to be honest about it,” said Currie. “It was always going to be a massive challenge.

"We just have to take it one game at a time. win as many games as we can and see where it takes us. We certainly need to have something more about us than we did (against Carrick).

"We've got enough in that changing room to cause Newry a lot of problems, but the attitudes have to be right and we have to have the right mentality.

"We let ourselves and the club down (against Carrick) and we have to turn that around and replicate what we had been doing. If we go down to Newry performing the way that we can perform, we have every chance of getting three points."

Portadown were punished by one of their former players in the Carrick loss as Nedas Maciulaitis assisted Emmett McGuckin for the opener before bagging a brilliant brace.

"Nedas played on the shoulder and had a great couple of finishes,” added Currie. “There's a lad that I would have certainly kept at Portadown if I had still been here, but fair play to him.

"He has went on like I thought he would and he's doing really well and I'm glad to see it."

Luke Wilson won’t be available for the Newry trip through suspension after being booked at Shamrock Park last weekend, but Currie could welcome back captain Patrick McNally who has missed the last four matches through a combination of a hamstring injury picked up against Ballymena United and a neck issue.