Avenue boss John Deacey has snapped up Farsley Celtic players Dominic Krief and Ryan Serrant following the demise of the Throstle Nest club.

Midfielder Krief and left back Serrant join the Horsfall squad which was bolstered last week with the addition of Bradford-born Lee Elam.

Krief, who was club captain at Farsley, begins his second spell with Avenue, having dropped out of the Conference Premier to play for Bradford under then boss Phil Sharpe.

He joined Avenue on a short-term basis as a favour to Sharpe, who is Krief’s brother-in-law.

Serrant is also a name the Avenue supporters know well. Ryan is related to Carl, the former Newcastle United defender and Hanson School pupil who made a comeback with his home-town club after injury curtailed his Football League career.

The pair should have no trouble settling into the UniBond Premier Division title-chasing squad.

They both played under former Farsley boss Deacey at Throstle Nest and will be linking up with former team-mates.

Pakistan international Amjad Iqbal, James Knowles, Jamie Price, Matty James and Kevin Sanasy – all former Celts – are among Deacey’s pool of players.

The quality of Krief and Serrant is a timely boost as Avenue head into the hectic business end in pole position to bag the only automatic promotion place to the Blue Square North – the league which Farsley have just been removed from following their failure to secure a deal with administrators.