Bradford will be looking to bounce back on Saturday after an impressive run of 7 games unbeaten was brought to an end by an impressive Telford side on Tuesday night.

Speaking after the game, 1st team manager, Mark bower said:

“I thought it was a game of very few chances”

“We said at half time the first goal’s massive in the game and you hold your hands up, the lads produced a magnificent piece of quality to curl one in the top corner.”

“it’s a little bump in the road tonight, you’re going to get those along the way”

When asked for his thoughts on the teams performance over the season Mark added:

“They’ve done fantastic for us, I don’t think anyone would have had us down as being in this position at this stage in the season. we spent a fair amount of time at the top of the league, I think we deserve credit”

“We’ve put ourselves in this position and we have to make it count.

Avenue head into Saturday in a strong 5th place, 8 points clear of a pack of sides chasing a playoff spot.

With just 18 points left to play for, a win for Bower’s side will mean Avenue only need 9 points to mathematically guarantee a chance to play for promotion to the National League.

Mid table Alfreton travel to the Horsfall on an impressive run of form, having beaten league leaders, Chorley in mid February and picked up 9 points from 3 sides battling relegation before picking up a point against Spennymoor on their last outing.

Despite this run of form, the visitors only have the remotest mathematical chance of attaining a playoff spot and would need to win all of their remaining games and have a considerable number of results go in their favour to do so.

Read on to learn more about today’s visitors as well as other news from the club.

Mark Bower’s play-off chasing Bradford (Park Avenue) side will look to strengthen their grip on a play-off place when AFC Telford United make the trip up to West Yorkshire tomorrow night.

Telford currently occupy the final play-off place and should Bradford secure all three points there will be even more daylight between Avenue and the chasing pack who are currently looking to get into the top seven.

Saturday’s draw away at Southport ensured Bower and his team made it seven games unbeaten and on Tuesday they will be looking to extend that impressive run.

Telford have a game in hand on Avenue, and will do so after Tuesday night’s fixture, as well as having two games in hand on those directly below them.

In their last five games, Telford have two wins, two losses and a draw. They have conceded the same amount of goals this season, and have scored ten less.

Telford return to National League North action after a seventeen day break, with the FA Trophy proving a distraction from league affairs, as they valiantly lost a two-legged tie to National League high-flyers, Leyton Orient.

In the reverse fixture, Bradford won 2-0 courtesy of goals by Lewis Knight and Jamie Spencer, which kept Avenue at the top of the league at the time of the fixture.

Bradford (Park Avenue) are proud to announce the launch of a new match day commentary service.

As part of the clubs close working relationship with Bradford Bulls, live match commentary will be available on the Bradford Bulls Live Mixlr channel.

Heading up our new commentary feed is Mick Gledhill, an experienced broadcast journalist working for Pulse 2, Proper Sport and various other platforms. 

You can tune in to the commentary on match days by going to: http://mixlr.com/bradford-bulls-live or by downloading the Mixlr app and searching for Bradford Bulls Live.

And don’t forget to follow Mick on Twitter with his handle: @thegamecaller

Having drawn level on points with Tuesday’s hosts, 3rd placed Spennymoor Town, Bradford will be looking to close the gap on fellow title chasers this weekend as Bower’s men head to mid table Southport.

With 8 league games left to the end of the season, there’s a total of 24 points up for grabs, enough to propel Avenue into the top spot should other results go in their favour.

Southport will come into this weekends game hoping to return to winning ways following their 1-0 defeat to Leamington last weekend.

The Merseyside outfit sits in 14th place, 14 points ahead of the drop zone, and barring catastrophe, look to be comfortable with little to play for, currently needing only 11 points from 7 games to guarantee safety.

Following on from the recent extension of Conor Branson, Bradford (Park Avenue) have moved to bring in another young player who has followed a similar pathway through the American University System.

Midfielder Lewis Rathbone joined the club last week and is training with the squad whilst awaiting his international clearance from the FA. Rathbone who hails from Manchester and was a member of the Manchester City Academy as a youngster, enjoyed a successful scholar period with Concordia University of Nebraska where he captained the universities squad and was named a Scholar All American in 2017.

In 2018 supporters of The Nebraska Bugeaters who compete in the United Premier League, voted Rathbone the clubs most valuable player.

Bugeaters Chairman Jonathan Collura said of Rathbones addition to the squad:

“I am excited to see Lewis join Bradford.  His commitment and competitive attitude last season was evident both on and off of the pitch”

Rathbone follows the US University pathway to Horsfall that Conor Branson and also Lewis Knight have so successfully taken. In August of 2018 Knight was signed after a successful trial period having completed his studies at Marshall University in the States and committed his future to The Club in November by penning an extension until 2020

Bradford Park Avenue CEO Damian Irvine said of Rathbone’s arrival :

“Bradford has signed 3 ex-Pats out of the US university system this season.  We are finding that there is a lot of quality talent that is available and we are well placed to build on this as a conduit back to the English game”

Rathbone joins Bradford (Park Avenue) pending final FA approval.

Bradford (Park Avenue) have today extended the loan of Chris Dawson to Grantham Town.

Dawson was sent out on loan to regain match fitness and play significant match minutes at “The Gingerbreads” and has strung together some excellent performances over the past month. With a fully fit squad putting together an unbeaten run at Horsfall , Mark Bower has agreed to extend the loan deal with Grantham whilst including an emergency re-call clause.

News of Dawson’s extension comes as Bradford (Park Avenue) can also confirm that York City FC Loanee Macauley Langstaff has been recalled to his parent club at the end of his short loan spell at Horsfall.

Langstaff was a welcome addition over the past month and a credit to himself displaying great professionalism in a spell of strong performances. Mark Bower and the club were keen to retain the services of Langstaff for the remainder of the season however respect Yorks decision to re-call him. The club would like to thank Macauley for his attitude and commitment to “The Avenue” in his short loan period and also David Penney and the York City FC club.

Of the two loan decisions Mark Bower said

“Chris is getting good game time at Grantham which benefits all parties and we are now able to recall him when required “

Bower added

“We are disappointed not to be able to extend Macaulay’s loan but thank him for his efforts whilst with us and wish him well for the future.”

Bradford (Park Avenue) continue to pursue recruitment targets looking to add depth to the squad in their bid for a successful play off campaign.

Avenue play their re-arranged fixture away to Spennymoor this coming Tuesday March 19th and have two huge home fixtures  approaching as they welcome AFC Telford to Horsfall for Tuesday Night Football on March 26th and Alfreton Town on Saturday 30th just 4 days later. With a long spell between home fixtures the club is expecting good gates for both fixtures and are hopefully the local community will come out to support Mark and the team as a second play off battle in a row looms large for Bradford’s recently awarded” Team of the Year”

Our next, if, somewhat delayed trip up north is to face a very good Spennymoor Town side in what promises to be a crunch promotion clash as both sides look to flex their promotion-contending credentials.

Goals from Conor Branson and Jamie Spencer secured a third win in five games for Bradford, with Spennymoor missing a game week due to their postponement against Bradford’s Yorkshire rivals, Guiseley.

The last game Tuesday’s hosts did play was against Southport, where they secured a point after going one-nil down with a late penalty from the league’s top goalscorer, Glen Taylor.

Spennymoor’s season has been an impressive one. They boast the third best defence in the league, as well as being the league’s second highest goalscorers and are aiming to stay in touch with Chorley and Stockport County above them.

A win could see Bradford go as high as joint-third, but despite the points tally, Spennymoor’s goal difference will help them stay above Bower’s side whatever the result on Tuesday night.

The reverse fixture came early in the season during mid-August and saw Avenue come out on top. Ben McKenna’s 26th minute strike saw Bradford secure an impressive 1-0 win.

This evening’s National League North clash at Spennymoor Town has been postponed following a pitch inspection from the match referee.

In a statement on their website, Spennymoor Town said:

“Ground staff and volunteers made an immense effort to get the game on, laying the pitch covers on Monday afternoon with heavy wind and rain expected in the region overnight.

Sadly, sections of the ground which prevented Saturday’s game with Guiseley going ahead have not had time to recover.

A new rearranged date for the fixture will be announced in due course.”

Saturday’s impressive hard-fought win over Ashton United mean Mark Bower’s side made it five games unbeaten as their impressive turnaround from the beginning of the year continued.

Next up is a trip up north to face a very good Spennymoor Town side in what promises to be a crunch promotion clash as both sides look to flex their promotion-contending credentials.

Goals from Conor Branson and Jamie Spencer secured a third win in five games for Bradford, with Spennymoor missing a game week due to their postponement against Bradford’s Yorkshire rivals, Guiseley.

The last game Tuesday’s hosts did play was against Southport, where they secured a point after going one-nil down with a late penalty from the league’s top goalscorer, Glen Taylor.

Spennymoor’s season has been an impressive one. They boast the third best defence in the league, as well as being the league’s second highest goalscorers and are aiming to stay in touch with Chorley and Stockport County above them.

A win could see Bradford go as high as joint-third, but despite the points tally, Spennymoor’s goal difference will help them stay above Bower’s side whatever the result on Tuesday night.

The reverse fixture came early in the season during mid-August and saw Avenue come out on top. Ben McKenna’s 26th minute strike saw Bradford secure an impressive 1-0 win.

Tuesday’s impressive win over Leamington saw Mark Bower’s Bradford (Park Avenue) side make it four games unbeaten ahead of the visit to relegation-threatened Ashton United, who are three points adrift of safety with nine games to go.

That aforementioned victory saw Bradford propelled up to fifth place in the table, level on points with Brackley Town in fourth position and four points inside the play-off places.

Goals from Conor Branson and Macaulay Langstaff ensured the three points on Tuesday night, with the visitors scoring through Ahmed Obeng, yet the Yorkshire side weren’t to be denied, much to the delight of the manager.

Ashton’s last league game was a 2-0 defeat away at Derbyshire based side Alfreton Town. In a scrappy game where either team could have taken the points, Alfreton came out on top with two second-half goals from Bobby Johnson and Declan Bacon.

The lowly hosts have only won one of their last six games, and their problems lie in the defensive third, having shipped 71 goals so far this season, only bottom club Nuneaton Borough are worse off.

A win could see Avenue move up to fourth outright, if all other results went in their favour, as well as closing the gap on the top three, ahead of next Tuesday’s crunch clash at Spennymoor Town.

The last meeting between the two sides was a thriller. Bradley Jackson and Liam Martin put Ashton 2-0 up, but a late goal from Lewis Knight, plus a brace for Shane Killock secured a dramatic victory.