PARK Avenue boss Mark Bower admits drawing league rivals Southport away in tomorrow’s FA Cup second qualifying round tie was not to his liking.

However, his side will travel to their National North counterparts full of confidence.

The teams have met once already this season at Horsfall Stadium and it was the Sandgrounders who took the spoils after Gary Roberts netted a penultimate-minute winner after Avenue’s Javan Vidal had been sent off.

The clubs have endured differing fortunes since, with Avenue going into the cup tie on the back of a seven-game unbeaten run in the league, while Southport have suffered three defeats on the spin.

Bower knows it will still be a difficult trip to the Merseyrail Community Stadium at Haigh Avenue, saying: “Southport away was one of the last ties we’d have picked given the option but that’s where the draw has sent us so we go there looking to get the result that’ll take us through.

“They have had a poor run but they’ve played some good sides. They were beaten heavily at Stockport County (6-0) but they had a man sent off early so you can’t read too much into that.

“Then they were beaten by Kidderminster Harriers (3-0 at home) who are another good side. You don’t finish second in this league like they did last season if you’re a poor side.

“And then they played Harrogate Town on Tuesday (losing 4-1 at home) and Harrogate are top, so it’s fair to say that they’ve had a tough run of fixtures.

“They have lost a couple of players through injury but they have paid transfer fees for two players recently. We’re coming up against a side with that kind of infrastructure, finance and they’re another full-time club so the new players will settle in quickly as they’re training every day.”

The Sandgrounders have recently banked a cash injection of £125,000 from the investment of a new board member. But Bower’s men are currently above their hosts in the table and should have players returning from injury.

Bower added: “There were no new injuries in Monday’s game (a 2-1 home win over Boston United) and of the six players we had out that night we’ll have four back in contention for tomorrow – Steve Drench, the Boshell brothers Danny and Nicky and Luca Havern.

“Shane Killock remains our only long term casualty and Matt Hill is probably a couple of weeks away after picking up a hamstring injury at Gainsborough.”