MARK Bower has urged his Bradford (Park Avenue) side to enjoy the thrill of the chase in their current play-off hunt.

Last year's Vanarama National League North finalists remain on course for another stab at the end-of-season lottery.

Avenue head for Darlington today with Bower telling his players to "embrace" the situation.

He said: "Last season, we sneaked in last minute and a lot of people round us wrote us off with two or three weeks to go and no one really thought we'd get going this time.

"Every week, can we get more points to get in those playoffs? We've got to embrace it. I think people have got to enjoy it.

"Most teams in the league now are kicking their heels, thinking about their summer holidays, with playing pretty meaningless games.

"We're playing games that, at the end of the day, mean so much.

"I hope players, supporters and everyone at the club embraces this and uses that bit of nervous energy to push the lads on.

"Ultimately, if we can get the wins that we need and we want, and really enjoy them as well and enjoy the situation that we're in, I think that's important to try and get the best out of everyone."

Darlington sit a lowly 18th and have little riding on their remaining fixtures. But that makes them a dangerous opponent in the eyes of the Avenue boss.

"It will be a tough one," he added. "They've had a lot of changes throughout the season.

"We played them up there earlier in the season in the FA Cup and I would imagine the team would be much changed from then.

"Obviously we'll do our homework and we'll watch the footage, but they're a little bit of an unknown quantity in terms of they've not got too many players with experience at this level over a number of years.

"Often you get teams with nothing to play for at the the end of the season, like Darlington, who might try little experiments in terms of formations and personnel for next year.

"So, it's difficult to know exactly what they're going to do.

"But, ultimately we're just pleased that we're involved in important games at this stage of the season. Points are crucial and mean so much to us.

"We'll go up there to try and get another win and just try improve our position in the table going into the last week."

With 14 goals under his belt, Jake Beesley is among the division's leading scorers.

Bower said: "Knowing him and the character he is, he'll want to do his best for the team and work as hard as he possibly can in order to help the team.

"I'm sure he'd prefer to be part of a successful team at the end of the season rather than an individual award because that's just the character he is."