Bradford Park Avenue 3

Southport 1

Avenue made a mockery of their lowly position to outplay leaders Southport, who arrived at Horsfall Stadium with a four-point advantage over their nearest title-challengers.

And with a massive 38 points separating the two former Football League rivals, few gave Avenue any hope of halting the Sandgrounders' promotion charge - which had seen them win their previous six matches.

The win delighted manager Carl Shutt, who praised a splendid team effort.

He said: "We played well and finished our chances, but we've played just as well as this before, if not better, and not got the result we deserved.

"Although we still have a great deal to do if we are to hold onto our league place, we have proved by this performance that we are capable of beating the best in this division - and they don't come much tougher than Southport."

Following another difficult week, Shutt was boosted by the return of on-loan Bradford City apprentice striker Danny Ekoku, while the problem left-back position was filled by latest signing Danny Ryan - who joined in midweek from Liversedge.

Avenue got off to the perfect start. Craig Smith took possession deep inside the Southport half and strode into the box, only to be bundled over by Farrell Kilbane as he lined up a shot. The referee pointed to the spot and Steve Oleksewycz beat Steve Dickinson with a shot into the corner.

As Avenue continued to press forward Danny Walsh sent a dipping volley onto the crossbar. But the midfielder wasn't to be denied and on the quarter-hour he finished off a crisp five-man move to drill an angled shot past Dickinson from 12 yards.

Little had been seen of the Southport attack, which had claimed 20 goals in their winning run. And their problems could have worsened when Oleksewycz squared a pass across the goalmouth only for Walsh's close-range shot to hit Dickinson and spin to safety.

Only a brilliant save by Dickinson prevented a third Avenue goal on 36 minutes, the former Guiseley stopper going full stretch to push a close-range shot from Smith over the bar. But Dickinson was powerless to stop Oleksewycz grabbing his second just three minutes before the break. He turned his marker and curled a 15-yard shot inside the far post well out of Dickinson's reach.

Southport looked much tighter after making two half-time changes at the back but Avenue comfortably held on to their lead and it wasn't until the final minute that Carl Baker forced home Southport's consolation goal with a back-post shot.