Portadown star enjoying dream start to life at Shamrock Park after January move as league debut brace helps secure victory

Dobbin made his Ports move at the start of January alongside Zach Barr, Jack Henderson, TJ Murray and Jamie Browne, joining from fellow Championship outfit Dundela, where he worked with current boss Niall Currie.

He was thrown straight into the starting line-up last weekend as Portadown secured Irish Cup progression past Premiership outfit Carrick Rangers with Dobbin successfully slotting home his penalty in their 5-4 shoot-out success.

The ex-Ballymena United attacking midfielder opened his club account in the 23rd minute at the Blanchflower Stadium and then put Currie’s men immediately back in front when Kyle Owens had briefly brought the hosts level.

"It has been a whirlwind to be honest,” he reflected to the club’s media channel on the past couple of weeks. “I was straight in last Tuesday meeting all the guys and then we had the big one on Saturday and it was a great way to get started in the Irish Cup, especially away to Carrick.

"I was happy to slot away my penalty because it could either have been the best or worst start to my Portadown career!

"Today is the icing on the cake and scoring two goals is brilliant. Jamie (Browne) did super (for the first goal) because if I'm being critical of myself I killed him with the pass and it actually gave me time to get into the box.

"I came in late and lucky enough got my foot on it. It was good team play with breaking on them and we were doing that in training. We knew that if we got it out wide we could hurt them and that's what we did."

Dobbin made the decision to leave the current Championship leaders, who sit six points clear of fourth-placed Portadown, but he’s confident it’s the right one.

"I'm no stranger to the likes of Niall and Cliffy (Clifford Adams) being at Dundela last year and when I went to talk to them I knew it was the place to go,” he added. “It's a great club and a big club.

"It was a tough decision but at the same time I thought it was the right one. It seems like it has been a lot longer but everyone has made me feel welcome in the past two weeks and there are a load of personalities in there and they're all great professionals."