Park Avenue 4, Chorley 1; by David Markham.

In-form Bradford Park Avenue will face two of the severest tests of their promotion credentials in the next fortnight full of confidence.

Their impressive 4-1 home win over Chorley was their third in a row and their fourth in five matches.

It is just the sort of consistent form they need to take into next Saturday's match at promotion rivals Accrington Stanley and the home game against First Division leaders Witton Albion the following weekend.

Saturday's results mean that only six points separate the top five teams.

It promises to be an exciting last two months of the season for Avenue and their ambitious manager Trevor Storton is confident the team can rise to the challenge.

Storton knows that now is the time to strengthen his squad for the crucial run-in to the end of the season and he has identified three players he would like to sign. All he needs is the money.

One of them is Stocksbridge's former Bradford City reserve left sided midfield player Chris Dolby. Avenue have offered £1,500 for Dolby and Stocksbridge are thinking it over.

Storton is convinced that if he can buy Dolby and a defender and striker he has identified then Avenue can win promotion, but he knows that new signings cost money and said: "If we could get a sponsor to put in £10,000 we could sign the players we need to go up."

In the meantime, he has nothing but praise for the attitude of the players currently in the team. He said: "I told them we wanted to win 12 of our last 16 matches to go up and so far we have won three out of three.

"We are hitting form at the right time. We are as fit as anyone in the league and we are a side who comes strongly at the end because we work hard.''

Victory over Chorley was not achieved without some heartache. Avenue made a great start and were rewarded for their flowing, attacking football with a superbly taken goal any striker would have been proud of.

Mark Hancock and the skilful Stephen Ball combined well down the left before Ball played the ball inside for Phil Denney and the 19-year-old striker beat goalkeeper Simon Marsh with a low shot into the far corner after only four minutes.

Unfortunately for Avenue, they could not build on that lead despite dominating the game with some fine football and paid the price when they conceded a bizarre equaliser five minutes before half-time.

Goalkeeper Gavin Kelly was trying to shepherd the ball out of play outside the penalty area when Ian Barker took it from him and cut in from the left before shooting into the empty net.

Some Avenue supporters claimed the ball had already crossed the line, but Storton said: "We couldn't tell from where we were. It was a silly mistake which let Chorley back into the game and put us on the back foot for a little time.''

Storton was pleased with the way Avenue hit back well in the second half, though. Jason Maxwell restored their lead after 65 minutes when he chased skipper Wayne Benn's through pass and when Marsh fumbled the ball the alert striker took advantage of the keeper's mistake to put Avenue 2-1 up.

Then Martin Pemberton, who had been a constant danger to the Chorley defence, put the result beyond doubt with two goals in four minutes.

First he rifled the ball into the net from 12 yards after 68 minutes when Hancock's shot was blocked. Then he fired past the keeper after receiving the ball in the penalty area after 72 minutes to give Avenue an unassailable 4-1 lead.

Chorley, who arrived at Horsfall with an impressive eight away league wins to their credit, were a big disappointment. They played some neat midfield football, but they hardly had a shot on target.

The only blot on Avenue's fine performance were two late bookings for Benn and Neil Bagshaw which means they will miss the important Witton match on Saturday, March 4.

Bradford Park Avenue: Kelly, Verity, James, Bagshaw, Pemberton, Edmunds (Freeman 78min), Hancock, Benn, Denney, Maxwell, Ball. Subs (not used): McLennon, Wilson.

Chorley: Marsh, Fleming, Critchley, Leather, Simms, Corcoran, Griffin (Gibson 70min), Smythe (Allan 73min), Swailes (Parkinson 73min), Barker, Mitchell.

Referee: Graham Griffiths (Warrington)

Bookings: Maxwell, Verity, Bagshaw, Benn (Park Avenue); Smythe, Gibson, Leather (Chorley)

Attendance: 253

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