Bradford Park Avenue lifted themselves into third place in UniBond Division One with a 2-0 victory over Lincoln United at Horsfall Stadium last night.

Their rise may last only until today, though, because local rivals Farsley Celtic will go above Avenue if they win at Eastwood Town this afternoon.

The match swung on the two goals which came in three minutes towards the end of the first half after Avenue had looked out of sorts for a spell.

Indeed the home side had come under pressure in the early stages. Lincoln's Ross Fleming and Ian Williams both came close to beating Gavin Kelly in the Avenue goal.

At the other end Simon Daniels made a great save to deny Avenue's new striker Andy Hayward his first goal at Horsfall.

However, Hayward did contribute to both his team's goals.

Avenue won a corner five minutes before the break and centre back Mickey Thompson's header was turned round the post by Daniels. Then when Martin James swung in the second corner Paul Marquis headed the ball down for Hayward who stroked the ball into the path of Mark Hancock and he scored from three yards.

Soon afterwards Kelly punted a long ball downfield and Hayward played the ball through for Jason Maxwell. The striker rounded Daniels who had raced off his line and slipped the ball home.

Avenue strolled through the second half with little pressure from the visitors.

They could have had a third goal but for a bad tackle on Hayward which earned Lincoln skipper Ian Wheatley a red card in the final minute.

lGuiseley slipped below Avenue in the table after losing 1-0 at North Ferriby United.

The East Coast team followed their 2-1 victory over Avenue last week with a 1-1 draw at Farsley in midweek and collected another three points with victory over Bobby Davison's men.

Former Rochdale and Hull City striker Andy Flounders did the damage when he headed the only goal of the game from a corner ten minutes into the second half.