Bradford (Park Avenue) know star striker will add something

He is not overly concerned by Avenue’s slow start since relegation from National League North, which has seen them lose 2-0 to both Macclesfield and Atherton Collieries, but he hopes to make use of star striker Jordan Preston today at Bamber Bridge, following a seven-month injury lay-off.

Bower told the T&A: “Jordan made such a difference for us last season when he was fit.

“He’s got that extra quality, experience and composure up front, and Atherton would have been the ideal game to throw him in to, as we were on top and dominating, but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

“But he had major hamstring surgery after damaging that in January and while he was looking good in pre-season, he just had a little setback with a calf injury.

“We considered putting him in on Tuesday, but we didn’t want to push him too hard.

“He should be in the squads for Bamber Bridge and Morpeth (on Monday) and he’ll be a great option off the bench, as with him being out since January, we want to get him back up to speed slowly.”

Avenue themselves have started slowly, but Bower said: “We’ve only had four days of the season.

“We just need to score that first goal and get our first win and I’m sure we’ll be fine, though we don’t want the pressure to build on us by leaving it too long to do those things.

George Sykes-Kenworthy dives at the feet of his opponent to make a save in the defeat to Macclesfield. (Image: John Rhodes.)

“We’ve got the quality to be getting results regularly, we’ve got people to come back in, and while it’s a different pressure and something we’ve got to learn how to deal with, we can dominate games in this division.”

Avenue were in National League North for over a decade, with long-serving boss Bower routinely knowing the opposition like the back of his hand.

Asked if dealing with all these new teams had been a challenge, he reflected: “To an extent it’s changed, because we had a lot of knowledge of the league above and knew what it was all about.

“But plenty of players at this level have played in National League North and we’ve been doing lots of research into these teams.

“We know we’ve had a wide-ranging test of opposition, as Macclesfield are up there with Radcliffe as the two you’d expect to pull away at the top, so the challenge is to stay with them

“Atherton will probably expect to be in a scrap at the bottom, while Bamber Bridge are one of the best of the rest and were very close to promotion last year (losing the play-off final).”

Avenue and Will Calligan would have been disappointed not to make a breakthrough at expected strugglers Atherton, but it was not for the want of trying. (Image: John Rhodes.)

And looking ahead to Morpeth at Horsfall on Monday, Bower said: “Historically, those Monday night games have been in our favour.

“At times in National League North, if it was a full-time team with a bigger squad who we were playing on those nights, we were maybe at a disadvantage.

“But it’s tended to work against part-time opposition and hopefully it does so again.

“Our results at home are going to be important, and Monday is a good opportunity for us, so we need to go about our business properly.”