BRADFORD (Park Avenue) boss Mark Bower thinks conceding early goals is what has put his side to the sword in recent weeks.

Avenue conceded their third goal in four games before the fifth-minute mark against Altrincham, who downed them 2-0 at Moss Lane.

Josh Hancock netted with 30 seconds on the clock to leave Bradford with an even higher mountain to climb before James Jones' 40th-minute goal all but ended the contest.

Bower believes it is the poor starts that leaves his bottom-placed team with too much to do against quality opposition.

He said: "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb again.

"We go a goal down so early, the lads say it was a foul on Nicky Clee in the build-up which we believe too and it's not given.

"We maybe need to react better but we are chasing the game, Altrincham are the best possession-based team in the league.

"The difference between the two teams again is when they get in the final third they are asking more questions than us.

"When we do produce a bit of quality, Stelios (Demetriou) gets down the left and puts a great ball in, which is asking to be scored, we make a bad decision.

"They had a similar one to the back stick 10 minutes later and there lad is there to power the header in.

"Gifting the lead to teams makes it so much harder to score a goal when you are losing a game and teams are camped in soaking the pressure going on the break."

Bradford had announced on the morning of the game that they had agreed a dual registration to bring in Cyprus international Stelios Demetriou from Haringey Borough.

The full back, who can play on the wing, was part of St Mirren's winning Scottish Championship side in 2018 and received his one cap for Cyprus in a 3-0 defeat to Jordan.

The Bradford boss was delighted to bring in a player with such experience and thought he did well on his debut for the club.

"He has good pedigree and is a good vocal presence on the pitch.

"A player we were aware of a few weeks ago, a couple of loans have fallen at the wayside but he was the natural one to come in.

"I thought he slotted in really well after being thrown in at the deep end, I can’t fault him for any goals that went in.

"He also provided us with some quality going forward on occasions."