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Ironically the man who destroyed Glenavon on the day was rumoured to be a transfer target of Colin Malone’s. Andy Smith put on a performance which would have put aside any doubts over whether or not he was still worth targeting in January when his contract with Portadown expires.

Glenavon were without the injured Eamon Murray after he tweaked a hamstring injury in the Lurgan Blues previous game with Linfield. Lewis Hamlin came back into the side to partner David Bracken and, in all honestly, they had very little to do. The home side enjoyed much of the possession but never really got out of first gear as they struggled to cope with a Portadown side who dominated from start to finish.

But they did have chances to break the deadlock early in the game, including an amazing miss by Stephen Magennis. A mix up in the Ports defence allowed Bracken through on goal. The ball eventually broke for Magennis who lined up a shot but mis-kicked when it looked easier to score than miss.

Later a Paul Carville free kick from the left hand side of the penalty area went right across the face of goal, missing everyone including Gavin McDonnell, who was sliding in at the back post.

Portadown took the lead four minutes from the interval with a fantastic strike from Gareth McKeown. A real contender for goal of the season, he smashed the ball home from the left corner of the area, taking a slight deflection off Adrian Harper’s thigh on it’s way in.

Smith’s first goal came just two minutes after the restart. From Kevin Braniff’s right-wing cross he swung a leg out to make contact with a volley and beat Tuda Murphy to remind then home boss Malone just what he was missing out on. It was all over seven minutes from time as Smith grabbed his second with a nice finish over the top of Murphy. By this stage Glenavon looked consigned to defeat, even before the third goal.

As the press waited to speak to Malone after the game there was an eerie silence outside the changing rooms. The only noise that could be heard was from a television playing in the background.

Eventually a disconsolate Malone came out to say: “We were terrible. I'm sickened. Games turn on goals. They were fortunate to get the first one but for the second I felt there was a foul on Paul Carville.

"That goal near enough killed it. We had possession but didn't hurt them. Their keeper was not put under any pressure and we cannot hide behind a 3-0 defeat. You cannot do that."