MARK Bower is under no illusions about the tough task facing Park Avenue as they bid to make the National League North play-off final.

His team travel to Brackley tomorrow on the crest of a wave after winning six games in a row to keep alive their promotion hopes.

Their 2-0 win at Kidderminster Harriers in midweek has left them just two more victories away from reaching the Vanarama National League.

But while Bower remains confident of progressing, he knows Avenue remain underdogs.

He said: "Brackley knew they were going to finish third when we beat them a couple of weeks ago.

"They mixed the team up to an extent and they were preparing for this stage of the season.

"We've had a tough midweek game with a long journey and it will be the same again this weekend. They'll be fresh and ready to go and they've worked so hard to get into this position. They'll want to make it into the final.

"We'll go in as big underdogs again but we know we're capable of getting a win."

Adam Boyes and Oli Johnson hit the goals which saw Avenue to their second win in four days over Harriers on Wednesday in the play-off eliminator.

But Bower was indebted to his goalkeeper Steven Drench, who somehow kept out Kidderminster all night.

He said: "Steven's an experienced goalkeeper with real quality. He made a couple of outstanding saves last night but he makes other difficult stuff look easy.

"When you have confidence in a goalkeeper, it runs right through the team.

"We knew what we were getting when he came in. You can't buy that experience. He's been in play-off situations before and that certainly helps when you get to this stage of the season."

Bower is delighted to see how much Avenue have progressed on and off the pitch since his arrival, saying: "The objective when I came to the club last season was to keep them up and raise its profile.

"There's a lot going on here. The academy is getting better every year and more and more is being done behind the scenes at the club to improve it.

"The players and the people at the club work so hard and they deserve a little bit more publicity. Being on the back of the T&A the last few days has been fantastic!

"Hopefully that grabs more people's attention and they come and support us, because at times this season we've played some fantastic football."