BRADFORD (Park Avenue) midfielder Simon Richman insists his side cannot afford a repeat of Saturday's capitulation at Southport, as he looks to avoid another relegation on his CV.

The 32-year-old experienced the highs and lows of non-league football during his decade playing for Altrincham, where he enjoyed three promotions, but also suffered the drop twice.

And while the obituaries are not being written for Avenue just yet, they are already six points from safety in National League North, after losing seven of their opening 10 games, drawing the other three.

Richman said: "I've had relegations before at Altrincham, and I've seen how things can drop off for you.

"But we have more than enough experience here, with the likes of myself, Luca Havern and Oli Johnson, to get us out of the situation we're in.

"We've got a lot of potential in the team but we're just not reaching it at the moment."

Asked why, Richman said: "I think we've lost a bit of confidence, especially after having some unfortunate results, like at Scarborough in our third game.

"We were 2-0 up with a few minutes to go, and that could have been a turning point, if we'd not conceded twice late on.

"We've had some abject performances too, but I thought we did well the other week at Fylde, and were a bit unlucky to lose 3-1.

"But unfortunately, we just weren't good enough at Southport on Saturday, and the second and third goals we conceded (in a 4-1 defeat) were particularly poor.

"At the start of the season, we weren't scoring a lot, but we weren't conceding many either.

"Now both of those sides of the game are a problem, and we've let in some really cheap goals in the last few weeks."

Richman added: "That first win will be big for our confidence, and we're trying our best at the moment, but it's just not happening for us.

"We have played a lot of sides in the top half already though, and we have some against the teams around us coming up that are winnable."

There are more reasons to be cheerful too according to Richman, who said: "Brad (Dockerty) didn't play a lot after his summer move to Altrincham.

"But he's back with us now, and scored a great goal at Southport.

"The more he gets up to speed, the more he becomes a menace for us.

"It's important that we don't lose belief, as I think we can kick on after that first win.

"We can't have any more performances like at Southport though, because we were miles off it there.

"We might not always get the result regardless, but if we're not performing well, we won't give ourselves a chance to win."

Richman has had a stop-start season with injury, and he had to come off early against Southport too.

He said: "Those little injuries I've had have been frustrating, but these things happen.

"I came off with a bit of tightness in my hamstring on Saturday, but I should be fine for this weekend against Curzon Ashton.

"I pulled my hamstring in the middle of our game against Chorley at the end of August and that was a bitter pill to swallow, as I'd just started to get a run of games.

"Fortunately, I was back playing after two weeks, so it's just about doing the right things for my body now, and trying to avoid getting injured again."