Gary Hamilton apologises to Glenavon fans after derby defeat to Portadown

Portadown went ahead after three minutes through Stephen Teggart and could have been two up going into half-time only for Glenavon goalkeeper Rory Brown saving Cathar Friel’s 41st minute penalty.

Substitute Alan O’Sullivan netted a second-half brace either side of visiting skipper Danny Wallace pulling one back for the Lurgan Blues to secure a first Ports league win since December 10th.

The loss means Hamilton’s side are on a winless run of eight matches in all competitions and while crediting young duo Brown and Jamie Doran, the Glenavon boss was furious with what he witnessed.

"I'm actually disgusted,” he told Glenavon’s YouTube channel. “I hold my hands up - I'm the manager who picks the team and we've let supporters and the club down massively today. I'm absolutely disgusted with the performance.

"It's so frustrating because you see us against Crusaders the other night and the same team take the pitch today and we're a goal down after five minutes.

"Only for Rory Brown in the first half - we looked like we had never defended before and that's the reality of it.

"They've had three or four chances, gave them a penalty and Rory makes a great save and you're saying to yourself that hopefully that gives them the lift. We had a great support here today and you're looking to send them home happy.

"I also have to excuse Jamie Doran from that because he was absolutely outstanding. The worrying thing for us as a coaching staff is a 19-year-old kid today we were relying on.

"From minute one we looked all over the shop. The third goal for me was unbelievable. We threw the ball up the pitch, they've cleared it and I turn around and Sean Ward is 10/15 yards up the pitch and O'Sullivan is in the middle of the pitch running through on goal.

"That's criminal and you're not going to get results defending like that. That's just the pinnacle of it because it was like that throughout. From the first minute to the 90th we looked nervous defensively.

"It's nowhere near good enough and I want better for this club. It wasn't acceptable and it's demoralising - there's no point saying any different.

"Everybody is hurting and so they should be. The players didn't do their jobs on the pitch today and I can only apologise to the supporters as manager for the performance. We had a great crowd out today and they deserved better than that.

"Seventh is our chance of getting at least a semi-final of a European play-off - that's our only opportunity and they've wasted another opportunity to get three points today and move into seventh spot."

Glenavon play both Newry City and Glentoran twice in their next four games and Hamilton says they need to go “back to basics” in order to turn their fortunes around.

"You have to keep plugging away and working hard,” he added. “The only way out of this is sticking together, outworking the opposition and if you go back to basics and not complicate things.

"Defenders defend, midfielders win the battle, forwards get a hold of the ball and score goals - get back to basics.

"In any walk of life, the only way you get out of a bad situation is to work harder, put more effort in and go above and beyond.

"That's all we can do and I know the coaching staff is doing that, looking at everything, and we need the players and us to make sure they go out and outwork the opposition.

"We can't expect every player to get the better of their opposite number because that's never going to be the case. Work rate, determination and hunger doesn't take ability and if we get back to that hopefully the results will come again."