Congleton Town 0

Bradford Park Avenue 2

Bradford Park Avenue held on to second place in UniBond Division One with a comfortable victory on a ground which has not been kind to them over the seasons.

Andy Hayward was their hero with the two goals that ended the challenge of Congleton Town.

The former Rotherham striker has not scored for Avenue since netting a double on his debut at Trafford on September 23, but he was back to his opportunist best and his efforts epitomised the new Avenue resolve.

And their push for promotion received another boost when league leaders Vauxhall suffered their first defeat of the campaign.

Going into tonight's clash at fifth-placed Ashton United, Avenue are now just four points behind with a game in hand on the Merseyside club.

"We were frightening," boasted manager Trevor Storton. "Five nil would have been a realistic scoreline but it could easily have been eight. Their keeper has made some good saves and won the man-of-the-match award.

"We are all the better for getting a result at their place because we haven't done well there and it is nice for Andy to get back on the scoresheet because strikers get a bit hesitant without a goal.

"Tonight will be a very tough game for us, no doubt about it, but I still say we are the best team in the league and we will be going there with confidence and looking to get at them.

"We will be without Neil Bagshaw as he was carried off with knee ligament damage after just three minutes on Saturday. That was the only drawback from the Congleton game and we are very disappointed about that."

Following the injury, skipper Wayne Benn had to drop into the back four and it took Avenue time to adjust but once they did they began to threaten.

Jason Maxwell and Danny Verity had both gone close before Hayward struck in the 26th minute. A raking pass from defender Paul Marquis sent Maxwell away on the flank and his cross was converted with a fierce shot from Hayward.

Maxwell (twice) and Mark Hancock had chances to increase Avenue's lead before the break but some stout work from Town keeper Micky Allison ensured the home side stayed in the game.

They almost levelled early in the second half through Rod Thornley, brother of Huddersfield Town man Ben, but found themselves 2-0 down after just 50 minutes.

Allison had done well to tip an in-swinging cross from Andy Quinn over his bar but from the corner Lee Stratford chipped the ball back into the area and Hayward left the keeper stranded with a back header.

Hancock fired wide when it would have been easier to hit the target, Allison denied Hayward a hat-trick with a superb save and Verity hit the woodwork as Avenue bossed the closing stages but failed to add to their two goals.