BRADFORD (Park Avenue) will be hoping to put Tuesday's gut wrenching 1-0 defeat at Barnbury Utd behind them, as they prepare to host Boston United today.

Avenue were moments away from taking a hard earned point back to Bradford, however, the hosts struck at the death following a corner situation to put a dagger through Avenue hearts.

The result meant that Mark Bower's men retained their spot in the bottom three of the division as they sit one point adrift of Blyth Spartans.

Discussing Tuesday's result, Bower said: "I was gutted after the loss in midweek because it would have been a good point away from home against a very solid side-a side who have been free scoring in recent weeks. Unfortunately, we were punished for a little lapse in concentration, but that's how it goes sometimes and you've got to be bang on it at this level. Every little mistake we make at the minute seems to be getting punished.

"On the other hand, we could have been a little bit better with the ball at the other end of the field, however, I was impressed with the overall performance. We had long spells where we were well in control of the game, but as I said we just missed that cutting edge in the final third. We came away from the game with an overriding feeling of disappointment because as much as we played well, we want the points and it was a cruel way to lose the game in the dying minutes."

"We have to bounce back now, and I have confidence that we will because we've done it before. We were cut adrift and everyone was writing us off around six or seven weeks ago, however, we managed to put a good few results together and we were able to pull ourselves towards the teams that people expect us to be competing with. We haven't picked up the points that we should have done in the last four weeks, so that has left us with another challenge to ensure we go on a positive run again."

Bower added: "A win this weekend would be massive, we know that. It breathes masses of confidence; you saw that when we got that first victory on our run a few weeks ago. From that first victory, we were able to kick on and pick up some really good points in a short space of time. Confidence and momentum is a massive thing at football, particularly for a team in the position we are in. That one win could help to shape a season."

Avenue take on a Boston team today who perhaps are underachieving themselves in the early stages of the season, but Bower still expects another tough challenge.

He said: "Boston have had a poor start to the season despite getting to the play-off final last year. A change of manager never helps, but we know they'll offer a tough test to us. They played some fantastic stuff last year, they move the ball quick and we know that a lot of the current crop continue to play in a similar vain.

"Thankfully, we've got a few faces back in the squad this week.

"Luca Havern and Mitch Lund are back from illnesses and we've got Adam Nowakowski back in the squad too, so we have a good squad to pick from. Hopefully, we can can that all important victory on Saturday."