Bradford (Park Avenue)  have moved to add attacking options in their push to the Play Offs campaign by adding Hull City Teen Hotshot Keane Lewis-Potter.

Lewis-Potter is a highly rated  forward at Hull and was rewarded with a 3 year Professional Contract on February 28th by Nigel Adkins having netted 8 goals ast under 18 level for the Tigers and an impressive 17 goals for the under 23s this season.

A regular at training with Adkins first team,  18 year old Lewis-Potter was included in the first team in Januarys FA Cup clash away at Millwall.

In January on making his first team debut, Nigel Adkins said of Lewis-Potter:

“He’s a young guy, diminutive in his figure, he’s got a bit of pace and an eye for goal. Let’s not put any pressure on him but let’s be excited that somewhere down the line it’s another player coming through the academy who’s got a bright future at the club”

Keane will join fellow Hull product Charlie Andrew at The Horsfall and is on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Of the signing today Bradford Park Avenue CEO Damian Irvine said :-

“We’re really pleased to have secured the services of Keane. We’ve been looking to add some attacking support since Macauley Langstaff completed his loan period and cannot speak highly enough of Hull City and their staff who have been exceptionally helpful”

Irvine Added :-

“We have plenty to offer as a club in terms of opportunities , and as with Charlie Andrew and Romaney Chrichlow Noble, Keane will be able to demonstrate his wares in a great environment competing at the top end of the league into the big games at the end of the season.”

Lewis-Potter will arrive at Horsfall and be available for Saturdays huge clash against Alfreton in the 3pm Kick Off. The club welcomes any Hull City supporters not making the trip to Ipswich Town and all Huddersfield Town Supporters not travelling to Crystal Palace to come along and support your young loanees up close to the action at family friendly Horsfall Stadium.

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.