Portadown are back in Sports Direct Premiership action this afternoon when we make the trip to Taylors Avenue to take on Carrick Rangers, kick off 3pm
Portadown come into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw with Bangor last time out, the point gained by Niall Currie’s men brought an end to four consecutive defeats but results elsewhere last weekend meant the Ports dropped down to 11th and into the relegation play-off position. Carrick Rangers reached the final of the County Antrim Shield on Tuesday evening by way of a penalty shoot out win over Larne at Taylors Avenue. In league matters it was a 2-1 defeat to Crusaders last time out for the Gers who currently occupy 9th place in the Sports Direct Premiership, however a win today for the Ports would see Niall Currie’s men leap frog Carrick Rangers, albeit Stephen Baxter’s men have 3 games in hand.
Portadown and Carrick Rangers met earlier this season at Taylors Avenue with Stephen Baxter’s side winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Portadown native, Luke McCullough.
Carrick Rangers have just four wins in their last 18 home league games and have only five home goals this season and have just two wins in their last 10 league games.
The Amber Army have dominated recent meetings against Portadown at Taylors Avenue, losing only once in their last 13 (10 wins, 2 draws), scoring 31 goals and keeping six clean sheets.
Portadown continue to ship goals in the second half of games with 74% of goals conceded this season coming within the second 45 of games, a worrying stat that the Ports coaching staff will be looking to put right.
On the game Portadown manager, Niall Currie commented
Unfortunately the injury situation remains the same, Josh (Ukek) has trained both nights this week which is great to see but unfortunately Luke (Wilson) has had a reaction to his knee and will miss Saturdays game, our skipper is also a huge doubt for the game. This means we have players who will get another opportunity to cement their place so on we go, this is football.
We know what we’re up against it at a very difficult venue but we have results down there before and I thought we were very unlucky to leave with no points last time we were there.
With the horrendous injury list we have had our levels have been very good and we’ll totally focus on being the best that we can be, we need to turn good performances into points now after coming through all the full timers over the last number of weeks.
Referee | Ian McNabb
Tickets | Carrick Rangers Football Club – Tickets
Last Five | Head to Head
11 October 2025 | Carrick Rangers 1 (McCullough) Portadown 0
5 April 2025 | Carrick Rangers 4 (Crowe, Gibson 2, Watson) Portadown 1 (Ukek)
8 March 2025 | Portadown 1 (Ukek) Carrick Rangers 0
9 November 2024 | Portadown 1 (McCartan) Carrick Rangers 1 (McCartan og)
7 September 2024 | Carrick Rangers 0 Portadown 1 (Fyfe)
Last Five | Taylors Avenue
11 October 2025 | Carrick Rangers 1 (McCullough) Portadown 0
5 April 2025 | Carrick Rangers 4 (Crowe, Gibson 2, Watson) Portadown 1 (Ukek)
7 September 2024 | Carrick Rangers 0 Portadown 1 (Fyfe)
6 January 2024 | Carrick Rangers 1 (Gibson) Portadown 1 (Barr) – Ports won 5-4 on pens
19 November 2022 | Carrick Rangers 2 (Anderson, Stewart) Portadown 0