Bradford Park Avenue 3 Cammell Laird 1

It may have come late in the day but a brace from the substitutes eased Avenue to a win after a less than comfortable afternoon against previously unbeaten rivals Cammell Laird at Horsfall Stadium.

The Lairds had not lost a game since coming up from North West Counties Division One as champions. That was their second title on the trot, having won Division Two the year before.

They secured the championship with an 11-point cushion - despite having had six deducted for fielding an unregistered player - over runners-up Skelmersdale United. Cammell were beaten just four times in a 42-game season, so they are obviously not used to losing.

On Saturday they came close to extending their unbeaten start to life in the UniBond League but it was Avenue's steadfast refusal to accept anything other than a home win that foiled them.

It was an entertaining but nervous afternoon for all concerned, with Avenue's assistant manager Clive Freeman getting so stressed that he ended up having a run-in with a linesman.

Avenue were leading 2-1 with just one minute of the regulation 90 remaining and the lecture from the referee, the yellow card that followed and Freeman being sent from the technical area did no-one any favours.

The clock was not ticking down and, when the officials indicated four minutes of added time, the game was already in the 92nd. But nothing distracted the home side and they defended well before netting a third goal to put a gloss on their victory.

The Lairds had reverted to a route-one approach to open the scoring in the tenth minute, which started with an Avenue cross being deflected into the path of erratic goalkeeper Peter Crookes.

He launched a massive kick down the middle to where the front pairing of Ronnie Morgan and Jamie McGuire had just one marker each. It was Morgan who reacted quickest of the four and fired in low to give Avenue keeper Piotr Skiba no chance.

Avenue had the ball in the net in the 38th minute but it was rightly ruled out, while home striker Lee Morris was lucky to escape a yellow card for deliberate handball after he had charged down a Crookes clearance.

Three minutes later Avenue were level. Neil Redfearn whipped in a free-kick and Morris met it with a back-post header but his effort was cleared off the line, only as far as Gary Shaw, who had been sent up front for the set-piece and he made no mistake from four yards.

In first-half stoppage time, Skiba made a superb reaction save to deny Mike Rimmer after the Lairds forward collected a low centre on the edge of the six-yard box.

Avenue may have been up against it in the second half, with Cammell having a lot of possession, but Skiba was no more overworked than his opposite number. Then the subs earned their corn.

With ten minutes to go, a long throw out from Skiba found Liam Flynn near the right touchline. He hit a superb cross-field ball right to Andy Shuttleworth, who went into the area, cut back to dump his marker on the seat of his pants and slotted in a shot.

Four minutes into the additional six played, Avenue sealed the win as Tom Greaves, another who had come off the bench, profited from a slip by John Collins ten yards inside the Lairds half and raced through to score.

"I am really pleased for the players as they deserved to ride their luck on the odd occasion and win the game," said Avenue boss Phil Sharpe, who leads his troops out at home again tonight for the visit of Bridlington Town.

"We really battled - and we had to. It was an important victory against one of the few teams above us in the league."