MARK Bower says he was happy his Bradford (Park Avenue) side was able to grind out a win to increase their impressive winning run in Vanarama League North.

Jordan Preston’s 31st-minute strike meant Avenue made it three successive wins with an impressive 1-0 victory over bottom-placed AFC Telford United at Horsfall Stadium on Monday night.

Preston took the ball on the turn from a George Sykes-Kenworthy goal kick and volleyed it cleanly into the bottom corner.

 

The victory takes Avenue up to 16th in the table with 25 points secured from their first 22 games of the season. It also gives Avenue some breathing spaces from the bottom placed sides, with Kettering Town fourth from bottom on 21 points.

Avenue will be looking to further climb the league table when they travel to King’s Lynn Town this Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

But, despite taking a further maximum points haul, Bower conceded that his side were not at their best against their opponents from Shropshire.

Bower said: “It was a fantastic win. It was an ugly win, I did not think we were great.

“The longer the game went on, the longer we were in front, we looked more and more comfortable.

“We had the better chances ourselves in the second half. The pressure subsided. We saw the game out really, really comfortably.

“The teams at the top of the league don’t steamroll teams every week, they win games like that. They grind out the win.

“It is the first time we have ground out a win this season. We can play much better. They (Telford) matched us up formation-wise.

 

“We were a little bit off the pace to start with. We scored a good goal. It was a fantastic finish. We did enough to win. It is three wins on the bounce.

“To try to increase the gap from the bottom four is big for us. We will try to increase that gap.”

Meanwhile, the Telford victory also featured a poignant moment for an Avenue legend.

Adam Nowakowski came on as a 92nd-minute substitute for his side in what was his last game for Avenue.

The club confirmed earlier this week that fan favourite midfielder Nowakowski is leaving the club.

He leaves to take up a position abroad with Nestle where he holds down a full time career.