The fixture will kick off at 7:45 with the club house open to spectators.
Come along and see the future of the Avenue and show the lads your support.
Step forward Conor Branson.
Versatile Branson took the month of March by the scruff of the neck and made it his.
Not content with keeping things tight at the back, only Jake Beesley scored more for the Avenue through the month than Branson himself.
Solid draws against Curzon Ashton, Alfreton Town and Southport were backed up with a win against Leamington.
Branson was then the difference in wins against Ashton United and fellow promotion pushers Spennymoor Town.
Unfortunately, Conor Branson was unable to collect his award this week.
It’s been almost a year since Bradford last visited the Aggborough Stadium for a standard league game on the last day of the 2017/18 season.
For the Avenue faithful the day will go down as one of the most memorable in recent history. Having gone 1-0 down in the 1st quarter of an hour, it took until well into the second half for Frank Mulhern to find an equaliser.
With the clock ticking down and news of Spennymoor’s victory over Southport filtering through to the away fans, any hopes of a playoff spot began to slip away until, in the final moments of the game, Adam Boyes arrived at the back post to slot the ball home and sent the travelling green army into a frenzy.
Just four days later Bradford returned to the Aggborough, this time finding the Harriers much easier to handle with a 2 goals to nil sealing a 6th consecutive win and a pass through to the playoff semi-finals.
This time round, Bradford go to Kidderminster 9 points ahead of the hosts, who sit just outside the playoffs, albeit 5 points adrift.
Kidderminster have lost their last two games and now have a lot of ground to cover in order to catch up and secure a playoff spot. But with both Telford and Altrincham holding games in hand, the Harriers could potentially go 8 points adrift.
Avenue will go into Saturday’s game looking for a repeat of last season’s form in order to put further distance between them and the chasing pack, as well as to climb the table and secure a lucrative home playoff fixture.
Read on to find out about key opposition players, the away ground historical results, as well as news closer to home:
Students currently in years 11 and 12 who are interested in a career in football are invited to attend the trial/open day which will take place at the Horsfall Stadium between 6pm and 8pm on Friday the 26th of April.
Visit: http://wearescl.co.uk/horsfall-college#trialdate
Call: 01252 410 434
Dave Haley: 07764 743 846
Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC
Horsfall Stadium
Cemetery Road
Bradford
West Yorkshire
BD6 2NG
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.
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.
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.
With 50% off the 2018/19 home and away shirts, now is your final chance to sport the colours of Avenue’s most successful season since re-formation. At just £17.50 it’s recommended you order now before stock runs out.
Alongside this there will be an extensive range of stock up for grabs for just £5 and up to 75% off other selected merchandise.
Pick up your home and away shirt online today to avoid disappointment.
For all other sale items, the club shop will be open at our home games against Alfreton Town (30/03/19), Nuneaton Borough (13/04/19) and York City (22/04/19).
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.
Southport signalled their early intentions with an early effort on goal which came courtesy of Dion Charles, who was looking to replicate the goal scoring form of missing top goalscorer Jack Sampson.
Conor Branson looked to add to his season tally of eleven, on five minutes. He received the ball in midfield but the shot was unfortunately not up to standard, and was dragged wide.
In the first-half, Southport failed to offer much outside of the opening of the opening exchanges. Charles skied an effort from ten yards and a free-kick from Brad Bauress didn’t do anything to worry Charlie Andrew in the Bradford goal.
Jake Beesley is a man in-form and he wanted to continue that, on twelve minutes he rounded Dan Hanford but was denied by a fantastic clearance by the covering defender who got back to the goal line to deny the on-loan Salford City man.
The opening goal was met by a degree of confusion on the Southport press bench, and after some deliberation the goal was given as an own-goal, despite Jake Beesley receiving the congratulations.
Beesley wasn’t to be denied, though, and in similar fashion to the effort on twelve minutes he rounded Hanford and with all the composure in the world, slotted the ball home to double Avenue’s lead.
He almost had another, five minutes before half-time. An ambitious lob over the oncoming Hanford only met the stantion behind the goal rather than the back of the net.
Mark Bower will have undoubtedly been impressed with the performances, particularly the impeccable back four as well as the incoming Adam Nowakowski, who did an ever-reliable job in front of the aforementioned defence.
However a different energy came about the home side and it was evident even early in the second-half as they looked to make the game more of a contest.
That was evident when Andrew was called into action again from Dion Charles after a clever flick from Devarn Green. However the deficit would be halved just two minutes later, when Jordan Archer scored a wonderful goal, leaving Andrew with no chance.
Branson and Beesley both had opportunities to restore the much-needed two-goal cushion, the former with a header after good play from Lewis Knight, Nicky Clee and Oli Johnson. The latter with a similar effort to is first-half goal as he took it round Hanford only to trip over his own feet.
The game went through a quiet spell, with both sides having bouts of possession as they looked for a vital fourth goal in the game, Clee had an effort from distance but it was handsomely over, while Morgan Homson-Smith tested Andrew.
Southport introduced out-of-favour striker, Jason Gilchrist to the pitch and as fate would have it he scored the goal in the final minute to gain his side a share of the spoils.
There were no further chances but Bradford stay well inside the play-offs as they return to action on Tuesday night against Telford United at the Horsfall.
Hanford, Richards, Ogle, Platt, Astles, Morgan (c), Green (Gilchrist 74′), Wood, Charles, Archer, Bauress (Homson-Smith 65′)
Andrew, Ross, Clee, Nowaskowski, Killock (c) (East 75′), Havern, Knight, Branson, Beesley (Toulson 90+7′), Johnson, Spencer
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
