IRISH LEAGUE: Currie confident of long-term progress with Portadown despite Ards blow

Currie left Ards late last year to take up a post at Shamrock Park with his hometown club rooted to the bottom of the table.

A 3-0 defeat marked Ards’ first league win of 2017 and added to the hosts’ relegation fears.

“It was humiliating today but I didn’t say anything to the players as you cannot keep on saying the same things,” said Currie. “I’ve no doubt I will get this right and I will be given time so I cannot wait and am very excited about the future of the club.

“The supporters deserve better and I don’t care if it was against 10 men or not.

“I’ve to take responsibility but there’s a collective responsibility too, you can legislate for a missed penalty and going down to 10 men but we went out with a whimper.

“I’ve a lot of friends at Ards and great relationships but no one wanted to win more today then me.

“There is a deep-seeded problem at the club that has been going on too long.

“Sometimes things are just accepted but it won’t be by me or my staff and it shouldn’t be by the board or supporters.

“The stick we got was fully deserved and you can try to change the mentality but can you change character?

“We are trying hard, our training sessions are fantastic so it is extremely frustrating to see it not being replicated on the pitch.

“Certain moments in games are very important but you’ve got to have something about you as well in digging deep and doing things properly.

“I’m down and extremely disappointed but I didn’t say anything to the players after the game as reading the riot act can sometimes just fall on deaf ears.

“We don’t give ourselves a chance and have to change the dynamics and mentality but will do that, in the long run.”

Kyle Cherry broke the deadlock before four frantic minutes featured a red card for Ken Oman and penalty save by Aaron Hogg off Niall Henderson. Ards increased the advantage with second-half strikes from Ross Arthurs and substitute Matthew Shevlin.