Bradford Park Avenue 0, Marine 1

Bradford Park Avenue missed the chance to move into fourth place in the Evo-Stik Premier Division when they lost at home to Marine tonight.

John Deacey’s men were feeling confident after three league wins on the spin but they came up short against a very determined side.

The Merseysiders were only three places behind their hosts in the table going into the game and they closed the gap with a late winner at Horsfall Stadium.

Avenue created chances in the first half, with Richard Marshall and Rob O’Brien going close, but the visitors also had their moments.

Stuart Lewis shot wide, Thomas Moore rattled the crossbar with a free-kick and a Neil Harvey effort was cleared off the line by Avenue defender James Riley.

The second half was less even, with the visitors making more of the running and they had the ball in the net just after the hour-mark. However, Marine’s leading scorer Harvey was rightly flagged offside.

The breakthrough did come just a little under three minutes from time when a cross was not effectively cleared and Marine substitute Aaron Ray rifled an unstoppable 20-yard shot into the top corner.