OLI Johnson and Jake Beesley have starred up front for Bradford (Park Avenue) this season and attacking midfielder Ben McKenna has proved to be the perfect compliment for the pair.

The 25-year-old opened the scoring in his side's 5-3 defeat at Chester last Saturday and manager Mark Bower was full of praise for the playmaker's contributions.

He enthused: "Ben makes things happen because he takes people on. He's good in different areas and he's popped up with a few vital goals this season.

"He's a really exciting player, and although he's had a niggle over the last couple of weeks, we're hoping he'll be fine for Saturday."

Avenue take on a confident Altrincham side at Horsfall on Saturday and Bower warned: "They've been very good away from home.

"They had excellent wins at Southport and Darlington and they were unlucky to lose against Blyth Spartans.

"They've got a winning mentality after promotion last season and they're a good footballing side. They like to play out from the back and pull you about but if we keep our discipline, we could find space in attack."

Avenue are finally back on home soil this weekend, having not played there since their 1-0 win over Boston United on August 27.

Bower said: "It was hectic with the August fixtures but it's slowed down now and it does feel like a while since we've played here.

"Our home games have been quite tight whereas our away games have been high-scoring. We'll learn our lessons from last week's 5-3 defeat but we're still third in the league so we'll look back and work on what we've done well this season."

Bower was honest about the Chester reverse, saying: "We played badly all round. We gave the ball away in a bad area for their third and fourth goals and kept making collective bad decisions.

"We weren't under any spells of great pressure but we allowed Chester opportunities and they were clinical. Everyone should be fit for Saturday, which is always good, but we might change things up this week after that performance."