Hinckley United 4

Bradford Park Avenue 0

It was another disheartening defeat for Avenue on Saturday after the euphoria of the previous week's thrashing of Conference North leaders Southport.

There was a good atmosphere at Middlefield Lane with Hinckley throwing the doors open for free to celebrate their last game before moving to a new stadium.

There were the usual 200 plus Avenue supporters in the 930-strong crowd that saw both teams play the last 20 minutes with ten men.

In typical style for the Bradford club, problems began before the kick off.

With skipper Dean Jones ruled out of the heart of the defence with medial knee ligament damage, Ryan Crossley has been crucial to the cause.

However, he missed the Hinckley game through work commitments and Avenue went into the game with the very young central defensive partnership of Michael Naylor and on-loan Jason Wray.

"Michael had played for five minutes the previous Saturday and not trained since," said Bradford boss Carl Shutt. "After a knee injury and a

virus he was nowhere near match-fit.

"But we had no options and ended up with two young lads against the likes of Paul Barnes, their striker who has done the rounds in the Football League.

"They are also a good side who had a great run in the FA Cup and have the players to force their way up."

It was Barnes who did most of the damage, grabbing a hat-trick.

Avenue started well with home keeper Dale Belford making a smart save to deny Wray and Steve Oleksewycz hitting the bar with a fierce drive.

The confidence generated by that was wiped out at Hinckley's first corner in the 11th minute.

The flag kick was curled in by Neil Cartwright and met by a thumping header from Barnes which flew into the net.

Avenue hit back and Belford had to be on his toes to block a shot from Oleksewycz after Naylor had launched a free-kick from the halfway line.

Midway through the first half the home side doubled their lead following a moment of hesitation between Andy Britton and Wray.

United's Chris Smith spotted a half-chance and raced in to steal possession and prod the ball home.

Avenue had a good spell of pressure after the interval and, with the strong wind in their favour, they penned the home side in their own final third. It was to be their best period of play but they failed to make inroads into the lead.

In the 70th minute, United snatched their third and minutes later the double sending off left the ending flat.

Smith rounded Britton, after the visitors' keeper had raced to the edge of his area, and fed Barnes who slotted the ball into the gaping net.

Hinckley midfielder John Burns sparked the trouble when he raised his hands to Tony Lennon as the pair tussled for the ball. Lennon appeared to be hit in the face and he retaliated, leading to both players being dismissed.

Barnes had to wait until the last few minutes to complete his hat-trick.

Britton parried a shot from United substitute Matt Lewis and Barnes drilled in the loose ball.