It’s a trip to Merseyside this weekend for Bradford (Park Avenue) to play Southport.
The Avenue are hoping to end a miserable run of form and kick start what would be an unlikely road to survival. Time, though, is running out for Mark Bower’s side and with each loss that mounts up, relegation is looking more and more inevitable making three points this Saturday a necessity.
Avenue are coming off a 2-0 defeat at Altrincham in which they were completely outplayed in the first half. A much improved second half wasn’t enough unfortunately, and the loss now leaves them 13 points off survival with 14 games to play.
The hosts ended their own terrible run of form last weekend, beating Gloucester City on the road 1-0. Before the game, Southport had been on a run of six straight defeats but the victory on Saturday will undoubtedly have increased their confidence heading into the game this weekend.
Southport currently sit in 11th place in the league table, a far cry from where they were just over a month ago. They do, though, sit only two points out of the playoff places but will be kicking themselves at finding themselves in that position.
For Avenue, it’s been a consistent season — just not in a good way. Although performances have seemed to improve over the last couple of months, especially since Mark Bower re-took charge of the team, results are just not going their way and a complete turnaround in form is needed if they are going to have any chance to escape relegation this season.
This represents a game with two sides that are desperate and eager for three points. One to try avoid relegation, and one to try kick start another push for the playoffs.