After a three week lay off due to postponed fixtures, Bradford (Park Avenue) finally return to the pitch this weekend as they welcome Chester to the Horsfall Stadium.

It’s been a long time since the Avenue last had a game, with this weekend marking a month since their last fixture which was an agonising 2-1 home defeat to fellow relegation candidates Gloucester City in a loss which really derailed most hope that the Avenue might’ve had for escaping relegation from the National League North this season.

It’s been an up and down couple of weeks for Bradford’s opponents. After grabbing a huge victory against Kings Lynn, who are runaway favourites to win the league, Chester then followed that up with a 3-2 home loss to fellow promotion rivals Brackley Town in their last outing. They currently sit in 4th place in the table so will be looking to further secure their spot in the playoffs this weekend.

Last time the Avenue and Chester met, it was just three months ago when Bradford came very close to leaving the Northwest with atleast a point. Avenue took a 1-0 lead into half time through Billy Priestley’s goal, but Chester were able to turn the game on it’s head early on in the second half on the way to winning the game 2-1.

After such a long lay off though, Mark Bower is expecting to have a fully fit team at his disposal and will be hoping that the extra rest will have his squad extra fuelled up for a run in that will need plenty of victories if Avenue are to have any chance of surviving the drop.

After a long two weeks without a game, Bradford (Park Avenue) return to the pitch on Saturday afternoon as they travel to Warwickshire to take on Leamington in the National League North, weather pending.

Avenue will be desperate to get back underway, hoping to right the wrong of the agonising 2-1 defeat at home to Gloucester City last time out. The defeat left Avenue 15 points from safety with just 12 games left to salvage their season.

It promises to be a tough task for the Avenue to overcome, but it is the price they have paid for the terrible start they had to the season, and for the costly mistakes that they have committed over the last few months of the season. Following the defeat to Gloucester, it meant that Bradford’s winless run in the league was extended to 10 games — a number Mark Bower and his players will be desperately hoping to put to an end on Saturday.

One player not apart of that, however, will be Liam Hughes, who left the club last week for Frickley Athletic. Hughes had been playing at centre half for the Green Army for most of the season, and now leaves a hole that Bower will be hopeful to replace.

Leamington were able to end their own poor run of form last time out, recording a big 1-0 victory at home against Southport and they will be hoping to start a winning streak of their own. They currently sit in 16th place in the National League North, but their victory against Southport will certainly have helped relieve some of the pressure that had been put on them after going 7 games without a win.

Bradford, though, are a team in dire need of a victory and will need to pick up all three points if they want to give themselves any hope of a great escape this season.