CRAIG Elliott’s Bradford (Park Avenue) side have won four and drawn one of their last five games to sit outside of the Northern Premier League East Division play-off places on goals scored only.

They travel to struggling Consett this afternoon as favourites to extend that good run, with a sturdy defence featuring new signings Josh Ashman, Mark Beevers and Ben Blythe playing an integral role in the Horsfall side’s revival.

Discussing Avenue’s best run of form in several years, Elliott, who took the reins from previous boss Danny Whitaker a few weeks ago, said: “We wanted to come in and change things up.

“The first thing we had to do was to stop conceding goals, because when I first came in, I saw we didn’t have a great, solid defence to enable the squad to win games of football.

“I’ve managed to bring in some good players at the back, who’ve got us organised, made us hard to beat and the results have shown that over the last few weeks.”

Those new defenders appear to have taken Avenue to another level, with Elliott saying: “Tactically we’ve tried to press a bit higher up the pitch, be more on the front foot and more aggressive.

“But you need good players to help you do that, there’s no getting away from that.

“Josh, Mark and Ben are all really good defenders, who we’ve done well to get in, then we’ve signed Jack Hall in goal on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, who’s done a great job so far.

Jack Hall has only conceded twice in his four Avenue games so far since joining on loan from Sheffield Wednesday.Jack Hall has only conceded twice in his four Avenue games so far since joining on loan from Sheffield Wednesday. (Image: Mike Bayly.)

“It’s a team effort though really, so I expect the attackers to defend from the front and set the standard, which everyone’s bought into.”

Avenue have often relied on their artificial pitch over the last few years to get results against visiting sides perhaps not used to the surface.

But ahead of this week’s away game, Consett will be conscious that Avenue are looking equally impressive on the road too.

Elliott said: “I’ve tried to tell the players that it doesn’t matter whether we’re home or away, or against top or bottom of the league, it’s about us having our own standards, our own DNA and sticking to that.

“We’ll go to Consett this weekend with that attitude as that way, we can let other teams worry about what we can do and what we’re about.

“We’ve got a long way to go and I still want us to be a totally different team, but we’re making the right strides.”

Connor Dimaio could be in line for his first start since returning to Avenue earlier this week, only a month after he had initially left Horsfall for Matlock Town.

Elliott said: “I didn’t want to lose Connor initially, but obviously Matlock offered him a really good contract in a higher league, so it was hard to grumble too much.

“It’s obviously not worked out for him there and I heard he wanted to come back here.

“Connor’s a good player, I coached him before at Boston United, and I know he can play a couple of different roles in midfield.

“He brings a calmness to the midfield that maybe some of the other players haven’t got, so it was a no-brainer to bring him back really.”

After Consett, Avenue will host Emley next Tuesday, the third of four successive midweek league games.

Luke Hogg captained Avenue to their excellent win over Stocksbridge on a miserable Wednesday night down in South Yorkshire. (Image: Mike Bayly.)

But one midweek fixture that can be crossed off their calendar is their West Riding County Cup second round tie, with Avenue kicked out of that on Thursday after fielding an ineligible player in their opening game in the competition this season, a 3-2 win at Golcar United.

Elliott said: “I think it’s harsh.

“The rule in the County Cup is that a player needs to have been registered seven clear days before the fixture (Avenue were supposedly a few hours outside the deadline).

“But with the competition like it is, I think the West Riding FA need to be more flexible and let players sign on nearer the fixture.

“A lot of teams see the competition as a bit of a hindrance, so I think the West Riding FA need to look at that moving forward.

“I’m disappointed to come out of the cup, as we put a lot of effort to win that game against Golcar and it kickstarted that good run we’re on at the moment.

“That’s for other people to discuss really, but I just think things can be made a lot easier for teams and managers moving forward in that competition.”