Bradford Park Avenue 1, Eastwood Town 0: A desperate last-minute winner from Martin Pemberton resurrected Avenue's promotion bid in last night's UniBond Division One clash with midtable Eastwood Town.

Avenue are still very much the outsiders of the five clubs in with a chance of the two promotion places, but thanks to a fortunate strike they remain in the frame.

Anything less than victory at Horsfall Stadium would have left them with too much to do.

That fear made it a tense game which was transformed when Pemberton brought the house down with his 11th goal of the season.

It was Pemberton who had the first goal effort in the game, but his early shot was blocked by visiting keeper Richard Parkin.

Midway through the first half claims for a penalty were waved away when Avenue's Dean Calcutt was bundled over in the area.

The deadline-day signing from Emley also screwed a shot wide after a Pemberton cross found him ten yards from the back post.

Eastwood enjoyed a good quota of the play after the break and Avenue keeper Gavin Kelly had to make a fine save from Paul Dixon and was relieved when a shot from the visitors' leading scorer Nicky Kenerdale went fractionally wide.

The match seemed destined for a goalless draw which would have ended Avenue's hopes when Pemberton curled in a cross-cum shot from near the corner which had everyone in the area flat-footed and hit the far post before looping into the net over Parkin.

Thackley did their hopes of escaping the drop from the Northern Counties East Premier Division a power of good when they took a point from a 2-2 draw at Staveley MW.

They climbed off the foot of the table, dumping Buxton into the basement, and are now just one point from safety with six games remaining.

It could have been so much better for Trevor Best's side, who led 2-0 at half-time.

Mark McNamara put them in front after just 16 minutes with a speculative 20-yard shot which bounced in front of the home keeper. Chris Aram doubled the lead when he slid in to convert a Stuart Burgess cross.

The home side levelled with a late brace inside five minutes, but Aram should have won it for the visitors five minutes from time.

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