Carl Serrant is hoping to lead the side for a second time tonight when Avenue face fifth-placed Alfreton Town in the UniBond Premier at Horsfall Stadium.

Following the departure of club captain Wayne Benn last week, the former Newcastle United and Oldham Athletic defender was handed the armband on Saturday.

That match ended in defeat. Avenue went down 2-0 at Stalybridge Celtic and remained fourth from bottom - the losing run extended to five games. The lacklustre performance took the edge off Serrant's bow as skipper.

"It was a proud moment to lead the side out, it was nice to be asked to do it and something I would like to continue. But on Saturday it was more about the team than anything on a personal level," said Serrant, who hopes tonight's game is on.

"Our pitch is susceptible to frost so we are all hoping that the temperature does not drop too much. It hasn't been as bad as expected so far and that gives us hope that it will be on.

"It is one thing having games in hand but we don't want it to get to a stage where we are having to play three games in a week - that is a tall order. Two can help the side because of the continuity but playing every other day is hard in the full-time game let alone the semi-pro ranks."

Neil Grayston is back at Horsfall for a second spell and is a natural replacement for Benn.

But he arrived from Alfreton and there is a gentlemen's agreement that Grayston will not play in this fixture.

With Bradford boss Trevor Storton scouting for players, assistant Ian Thompson is in charge of the squad but admits his options are limited.

"It is more or less picking itself at the moment," said Thompson.

"The 11 that I put out on Saturday was as good as anyone in the league. They will get the chance to prove that was a one-off bad day."

Bradford Park Avenue (from): Boswell, Quinn, Stansfield, Crossley, Heinemann, Smith, Serrant, Walsh, Wright, Hayward, Maxwell, Oleksewycz, Helliwell, Russell