Portadown star set for 'three or four week' absence with 'nasty' ankle injury
Portadown are set to be without influential captain Gary Thompson for “three or four weeks” with manager Niall Currie labelling his absence as a “huge blow”.
Former Ballymena United and Crusaders midfielder Thompson was forced off after just five minutes of Portadown’s Irish Cup fifth round win over Annagh United earlier this month.
He sat out of last Saturday’s 1-0 Premiership defeat to Bangor and is now set for a period on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
Thompson has been a crucial player for Currie since joining from the Crues in 2023, leading Portadown to Championship title glory and the BetMcLean Cup final during the 2023/24 campaign.
The 35-year-old has made 53 Premiership appearances across the past two seasons, including 22 this term, but is set to miss Saturday’s return to former club Ballymena.
Another ex-Sky Blues player, Josh Carson, made a Ports debut last weekend and his vast experience could help fill the gap left by Thompson.
Former Northern Ireland international Carson has recently recovered from an injury of his own and this weekend will mark his first trip back to The Showgrounds since departing for Shamrock Park earlier this month.
"His (Thompson’s) ankle is quite nasty,” Currie told the club’s media channel. “It’ll probably be three or four weeks, which is a huge blow to us.
"We need other players to step up to the plate. Josh Carson came in for his first game (against Bangor) in a long time and hopefully he will get better.
"There’s a big reliance on Josh now. He has that experience, leadership qualities, and I’m sure he will like going back to Ballymena as well.
"Listen, other players have to stand up now and the bottom line is we know that if we arrive at The Showgrounds right, we always have a wonderful chance of winning the game.
"We know we’re more than capable of going to Ballymena and getting a result, that’s how I’ll approach it. We know on any given day our quality can be very, very good.
"Ballymena will be in the same boat as ourselves. They know when we arrive at The Showgrounds on Saturday that if the right Portadown turns up we have every chance of winning the game.”