Following a pitch inspection this morning the game against Salford City has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Bower Adds Second Capture Of The Day
Guiseley striker Frank Mulhern has joined Bradford Park Avenue on a 3 month loan.
Capped by the Republic of Ireland at Under-18 and Under-19 level, Mulhern started his career in the Huddersfield Town Academy when he joined at Under 9 level in August 2005. After nearly 4 years with Huddersfield Town he departed for Leeds United in May 2009. He subsequently turned professional with the Elland Road club in the summer of 2015 following a two-year scholarship. However he was released and re-joined Huddersfield Town’s Under-23 Development Squad in February 2016, before joining Guiseley at the start of the current season. Mulhern has also had brief loan spells with Southport and Alfreton.
Frank will be available to go straight in to the team for the Salford City game on Saturday, subject to FA approval.
Dan Pybus Joins On Loan From Neighbours Bradford City
Mark Bower has secured the services of young midfielder Dan Pybus from neighbours Bradford City on an initial one month loan.
The attack-minded player started his career at Sunderland where he was part of their Under 23 and Under 18 squads. Playing predominately as a central or attacking midfielder, Pybus netted an impressive 15 goals in 23 games for Sunderland’s youth team in the 2015/2016 campaign. After a spell on loan at Derby County he joined Bradford City in March 2017. Since joining Bradford City he has made two 1st team appearances and has been a regular in their Development Squad. Pybus has also been capped at Under-16 level for England.
Pybus will be no stranger to the Horsfall Stadium or Bradford Park Avenue, having played in the Tom Banks Memorial pre-season friendly at the start of the current season.
Dan will be available to go straight in to the team for the Salford City game on Saturday, subject to FA approval.
Match Preview: Salford City Vs Bradford Park Avenue Saturday 3rd February 2018
Avenue will be targeting a scalp over league leaders Salford City after enduring a winless January.
Mark Bower’s side haven’t tasted victory since Boxing Day, when a late rally saw off Curzon Ashton and fans were treated to a sublime solo effort from Wayne Brooksby.
Brooksby’s hamstring troubles mean he is unlikely to feature against the table-toppers, and Mark Ross is also a doubt having missed out on last week’s draw against Nuneaton Town. New signings Antoine Remi Recizac and Adam Smith, however, could be in line to feature with the latter having made his Avenue debut in last week’s goalless draw. Goalkeeper Ed Hall is available after featuring for Yorkshire last Sunday.
A positive result for Avenue on Saturday could provide a favour for Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town, who still trail Salford by four points despite their title rivals slipping up against Brackley Town last week.
Prior to the Brackley defeat, Salford had won three consecutive league games, with former Barnsley marksman Mike Phenix notching in two of the three victories.
Goalkeeper Max Crocombe was the centre of controversy in Salford’s last meeting with Avenue, and he is likely to start having not missed a game since mid-November.
Salford’s squad has been bolstered since their visit to the Horsfall last October, with midfielders Tom Walker and Nick Haughton penning deals with the club in January. Walker joined from National League North rivals FC United of Manchester, and Haughton returns for his third stint with Salford having enjoyed two loan spells at the club whilst on the books of Fleetwood Town.
Salford City V Bradford Park Avenue – Saturday 3rd February 15.00 KO
Salford City V Bradford Park Avenue – Saturday 3rd February 15.00 KO
Gaffers Notes: Salford City Vs Bradford Park Avenue Saturday 3rd February
I was pleased in the end to take a point from the game at Nuneaton last weekend. When you’re down to 10 men, away from home, against a team in good form, you’ve got to be happy with a clean sheet. Whilst it was not the perfect defensive performance, there was plenty of effort and desire in the team to keep our clean sheet, especially after the red card and after conceding some poor goals recently. It was frustrating however that we were unable to create more in the game as we had plenty ball in the final third but our final pass or decision let us down on too many occasions.
We have a big weekend coming up with games on Saturday and Monday. We visit Salford on Saturday who sit top of the league. They have a good mix of quality, physical strength and ‘know how’ and as we enter in to the business end of the season where the pitches are difficult to play good football on, they have all the tools to go on and finish the season as champions. They have shown their quality at times this season with some big wins, but they’ve also come out on top in many tight games to win by the odd goal as we found out in the reverse fixture at Horsfall. They have strength in depth and can call on some excellent players not only in their starting 11, but off the bench also. They’re clearly on the rise and with the investment they’ve made in their squad and stadium, they don’t intend hanging around in our division for too long, but I’m confident that if we produce what we are capable of, we can go there and get a positive result.
Adam Smith joined us last week. He’s similar to one or two we already have in our squad who have suffered from injuries over the past few years which has restricted his game time, but if we can get him match fit, he can have a big part to play for the rest of the season.
Cheers
Mark
Avenue’s Ed Hall Shines On International Stage
Avenue’s Ed Hall shines on international stage.
Avenue goalkeeper Ed Hall completed 90 minutes for Yorkshire’s newly-formed side as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Ellan Vannin of the Isle of Man.
Ed received the call-up alongside Brighouse Town’s George Clarke, but it was the Avenue stopper that earned a place in the starting line-up for Yorkshire’s first ever international fixture.
The game was an entertaining affair, and it was certainly a busy day at the office for both goalkeepers.
Ed made a string of impressive saves to keep the score level in the first-half, making two particularly stunning stops to deny Dan Bell and Ciaran McNulty.
Yorkshire fell behind to a Furo Davies strike just three minutes after the restart, but Penistone Church’s Jordan Coduri levelled proceedings six minutes later.
Ellan Vannin had chances to notch the winner in the game’s latter stages, but Ed proved impossible to beat as he denied Rhys Oates and Joey Quayle.
The game finished 1-1, and Ed will be hoping that his fantastic display sees him receive the nod ahead of Yorkshire’s next fixture.
He will link back up with Mark Bower’s squad this week and is available to feature on Saturday when we visit high-flying Salford City.
Congratulations, Ed!
Match Report: Nuneaton Town 0-0 Bradford Park Avenue
Avenue survive Boro rally to earn point
Bradford Park Avenue picked up a valuable point at the LDJ Solicitors Stadium, holding Nuneaton Town to a 0-0 draw despite being reduced to ten men in the second-half.
Ryan Toulson made his long-awaited return to action after a lengthy battle with injury to replace the injured Mark Ross at right-back, and Danny Boshell was drafted into the starting eleven due to the absence of Wayne Brooksby. New signing Adam Smith was named as a substitute having finalised the terms of his move to the club yesterday.
Neither side found their rhythm in the early stages of the match, but there was a reason to protest barely three minutes in. Nicky Clee split the Nuneaton defence open with a through-ball that eventually overran, but goalkeeper Dean Lyness appeared to have handled the ball outside of the area when collecting. Nevertheless, the referee ignored the appeals of Avenue players and waved play on.
Half-chances came in the form of tame efforts from Clee and Oli Johnson, with the latter seeing his shot held comfortably by Lyness, and Clee firing wide.
The best chance of a relatively mundane opening 25 minutes fell to the hosts, with Tom Elliott’s deflected effort from a tight angle coming very close to finding a way past Steven Drench.
Nuneaton grew in confidence as the half progressed, and Jordan Nicholson rattled the crossbar with a well-struck attempt. This was quickly followed by a golden opportunity for Ashley Chambers to open the scoring after Elliott squared, but Shane Killock flew across to make a sensational block and deny the hosts.
The dangerous Daniel Nti was a persistent threat to Avenue’s backline, but saw his drilled effort tipped over the crossbar by Drench in impressive fashion.
Both Avenue and Nuneaton flew out of the blocks after the interval, with both sets of players desperate to notch and edge their sides ahead. James Ferry and Nicky Wroe were the first to arrow shots goalward, but both saw their frustrations heightened with failure to hit the target.
The encounter soon became an end-to-end affair, and Adam Boyes will rue his missed opportunity for days to come after he volleyed over from a Jamie Spencer cross. Clee also came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock, forcing Lyness to pluck his dipping free-kick out of the top corner.
Mark Bower heaped praise upon the performance of goalkeeper Drench after the game, and rightfully so with the goalkeeper clawing away two dangerous strikes from Nti in a matter of minutes.
Avenue, however, suffered a devastating blow when Danny Boshell received his marching orders for a second bookable offence. Boshell was penalised for two second-half fouls that saw him take an early bath for the second time this season.
Pressure mounted upon the visitors after the sending off, as Nuneaton piled forward in droves in an attempt to capitalise upon their man advantage.
Despite losing Boshell, Avenue’s backline remained sturdy. Killock gave a masterclass in the art of dogged defending, and Drench palmed away every effort that was fired his way.
Avenue managed to survive the Boro onslaught, and supporters even caught a glimpse of new signing Adam Smith in added time before the referee blew his whistle.
Mark Bower’s play-off chasers face what could prove to be an even sterner test next week, taking on table-toppers Salford City at the Peninsula Stadium.
Nuneaton Town: Lyness, Wildin, Heaton, Elliott, Johnson, Digie, Ferry, Beswick, Chambers, Nicholson, Nti.
Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Dielna, Mitchell, Ashton.
Bradford Park Avenue: Drench, Toulson, Hill, Wroe (c), Killock, Havern, Spencer, Boshell, Boyes (Smith 90+3’), Johnson (Nowakowski 81’), Clee (Vidal 75’).
Unused substitutes: Hall, Knight.
Booked: Clee, Killock, Havern, Boshell (Avenue), Beswick (Nuneaton)
Sent off: Boshell (Avenue)
Referee: Thomas Kirk
Nuneaton Town FC V Bradford Park Avenue Saturday 27th January 2018 15.00 KO
Nuneaton FC V Bradford Park Avenue 27 Jan 2018 15.00 KO
Bower Adds Experienced Winger To The Squad
Mark Bower has moved to sign ex-League player Adam Smith aged 33.
Adam brings a wealth of experience from his League days with Chesterfield FC and, more recently, with fellow Conference North clubs Alfreton and Gainsborough. He has also played in the National League for York, Mansfield, Lincoln, Halifax, Wrexham and Guiseley.
He is principally regarded as a right winger but he can operate on either flank.
He played 18 games for Mark when he was manager at Guiseley and Mark’s comments were that ‘Adam has had a few injuries over the years but in the short time I worked with him at Guiseley I could see the quality he had and if we can get him fully fit and firing he will be a great addition to the squad’.
Adam will be available for the Nuneaton game on Saturday.