Bradford (Park Avenue) won a fourth successive Northern Premier League East Division game on Saturday, beating struggling Sheffield FC 2-1 at Horsfall to move up to fifth.
Striker Paddy Sykes put Avenue in front just before the break, then centre half Ben Blythe added a second goal 20 minutes from time.
Sheffield scored late on through Bradley Beatson to set some nerves jangling, but they had left their comeback attempt too late, as the home side moved into the play-off places with victory.
The first action of the game went Sheffield's way when Conner Cutts put a great ball into the box, however former Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton defender Mark Beevers was there to clear for Avenue.
The home side’s first chance came with just over 15 minutes gone when keeper Edd Hall, who left Avenue to join Sheffield a couple of weeks ago, nearly made a catastrophic error.
He attempted to clear the ball, however, his effort failed and fell into Sonny Whittingham’s pat, but the Avenue midfielder fired his volley over the bar.
Sheffield then came close to taking the lead themselves, but a headed effort went just wide of the post.
Avenue hit back and Kareem Hassan-smith tried his luck when Sykes laid the ball off to him, however his effort ended up straight in the hands of Hall.
A couple of minutes later, Avenue’s Dan Francis was fouled in a dangerous area, however a clever free-kick routine was defended brilliantly by Sheffield.
They could not stop Avenue’s next attack though.
Just minutes before half-time, Sykes was able to find the back of the net, his second goal in two games.
He played Jack Normanton through on goal and though his effort was saved by Hall, he pushed it straight out to Sykes, who slotted the ball home to give his side the lead.
The first action of the second half saw Avenue trying to increase their lead with fantastic play, as Connor Shanks was able to link up with Whittingham superbly, only for the latter to unfortunately fire his shot wide.
And in a quiet second half, Avenue scored the decisive second goal with 20 minutes left.
Myles La Bastide’s free kick forced a save from Hall, but he was only able to push it back into a dangerous area and Blythe took advantage to score his first goal for Avenue.
With just under 10 minutes of the game left, Avenue tried for a third, however Will Calligan’s volley sailed over the bar.
Joe Crosby tried his luck for Avenue late on when the ball fell perfectly for him in the box, however his effort was deflected off target by some fine last-ditch defending from the visitors.
With a couple of minutes to go, Sheffield’s Bradley Beatson put the ball past on-loan Avenue keeper Jack Hall with a fantastic header to halve the deficit.
But the away side were unable to fashion any more clearcut chances, and ultimately came away from BD6 with nothing.
Avenue are really clicking into gear under new boss Craig Elliott and this fourth successive win takes them into the play-off places by a point.
They return to Horsfall tomorrow evening, where they will take on eighth-placed Carlton Town, who would go above Avenue with an away victory.
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