Harry McConkey had described Portadown’s 96th minute winner at Ferney Park on Saturday as ‘gut wrenching’ but the Mallards boss was pleased with the level of performance that his side produced on the day.

“Seven days previous against Dergview we came off the pitch feeling that we had let people down and hadn’t shown what I had hoped we would have shown. I just felt that we repaired a lot of damage on Tuesday against Lurgan Celtic and I thought on Saturday we played some lovely stuff. We were able to take the spark out of Portadown but we also created chances and hit the woodwork three times. We needed to be courageous on the ball and we were and we were organised, we were hungry and the players had the right attitude,” said McConkey.

The Mallards had early chances to take the lead but failed to take them and Portadown went down the other end to score. However, the response from the players pleased McConkey.

“You then think how are they going to react to this but I was delighted with that. When we got the goal back, which we earned, you were thinking even if we don’t go on and win the game it will still be a great morale booster if we get a point out of it.”

It was not to be though as Braniff stepped up to fire home a superb free kick at the death.

“It was just gut wrenching. You just knew when Braniff stepped up that he was going to find that spot and he has the experience and the nerve to step up and do that.

“Matthew (Tipton, Portadown manager) shook my hand after the game and said they didn’t deserve any points out of the game which is an honest assessment in fairness to him,” commented Harry.

McConkey though stresses that they will move forward in a positive frame of mind.

“We have now played two of the top teams in the league and also Dergview who are right up there and we know that on any given day that if we perform to that level again we are going to pick up points.”

Next up is an away game against Ballyclare on Friday night and this will pose a different challenge for the Ducks.

“They are flying as well and it is a different environment. It is a difficult pitch, they will play 4-4-2 and they will battle and they won’t want to let us play any football at all so we will have to find other qualities for that game. We will have to earn the right to play, which was the sharp message from Dergview,” he said.

The Mallards manager also added to his squad last week with Johnny Leddy and Harry Clarke returning to Ferney Park along with Shane Porter.

“Johnny Leddy has resigned for the club but due to work commitments he can’t commit just at the minute but he wanted to resign and we are hoping in the coming months he will be able to commit. Young Harry Clarke has comeback from Crusaders, he is a young keeper who will add competition on that front and we have also added young Shane Porter who is a left sided centre half who can also play left back.”