PARK Avenue boss Mark Bower is hoping to exploit Blyth Spartans' leaky defence as they complete a trio of fixtures against the leading three teams in the table.

Having recently played Vanarama National League North top two Salford and Harrogate Town, the Horsfall side bring to an end a testing 12-day period when they welcome third-placed Blyth.

Spartans have the unusual record of not having drawn any of their 16 league games yet, having won ten and lost six.

That has put them second top scorers but they have also let more goals in than any other side outside the bottom five.

As with last Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Salford, Spartans' visit will have an early kick-off due to floodlight damage, with the game starting at 1pm now the clocks have gone back.

Bower said: “It’s another early kick-off, which doesn’t matter to either side, but hopefully it’ll be played in better conditions than last weekend when the wind was so severe.

“Sometimes you can get the benefit of playing with the wind but last Saturday it was so fierce that it didn’t help us or Salford in the second half.

"It was disappointing not to get anything from that game but after being in front at half-time we conceded two really poor goals.

“This game will be just as tough because Blyth are flying and they score a lot of goals but they concede a few as well.

"They’ve not drawn a league game this season so that suggests they have a 'win at all costs' outlook and that might suit us if we show a bit of quality going forward.”

Bower felt his players didn’t do enough in either box against Salford so is looking for an improvement in those areas after a free midweek and some intense training sessions.

His team have tumbled to 15th but are still only four points outside the play-off places.

He said: “We’ve had the quality to get into good positions and create some clear openings but we’ve not taken enough of them.

"We’ve had enough chances to win our last three or four games but we’ve lacked that clinical edge and committed individual errors at the back.

“I think it’s a form thing and once the chances start going in and the confidence spreads through the squad we’ll start to get the points we deserve from these tight games.

“We can nick a win, tomorrow or any day, and we’ve had good performances but we haven’t had a lot going for us but that’s always a temporary thing and lets hope it starts to even itself out tomorrow.”