There will be no animosity from Park Avenue boss John Deacey if neighbours Guiseley book their place in the Conference North play-offs.

While the Horsfall side are in mid-table with only pride left to play for, their local rivals at Nethermoor are set for an exciting run-in as they aim to make the top flight.

Far from being jealous, Deacey would love to see the Lions go all the way and earn promotion.

He said: “It will be a tough battle and some good sides won’t make it but I expect Guiseley to be in there because they have hit good form at the right time and I think they will do really well.

“For me they are the best side we’ve played this season. I went to watch them play Telford and they got a great result against a top side.

“The 6-1 scoreline flattered them but they definitely deserved to win. Mark Bower has done wonders there and I think he’s a very good manager. He’s also a nice guy and that says a lot to me.

“If Guiseley do get up, like Halifax Town, it will be great for the area and I always like to see local teams doing well.

“It will be an incentive for us to follow them up and get the big derby games back on the fixture list.”

Avenue are 12th in the table with four fixtures remaining. They are established in what is their second term in the Conference League set-up but Deacey would loved to be ten points better off.

The manager said: “We haven’t done too badly this season but I believe if we had been able to put our top 11 out every game we would have done a whole lot better.

“Our best side is capable of beating anybody in the division. We might even have been in the play-off places ourselves because we are not too far off the pace.

“Of course the problem has been that we have such a small squad and the clubs with the bigger budgets are always going to be stronger. You only need to look at the likes of Telford, North Ferriby, Altrincham and some of the others.”

The three clubs are the current top three and Deacey feels their involvement in the end of season extras is more or less guaranteed.