BRADFORD (Park Avenue) fan favourite George Sykes-Kenworthy is staying at Horsfall for another two years, and the decision was a no-brainer for him.

After an excellent first season where he kept 10 clean sheets in 28 appearances, former Bantams and Derby prospect Sykes-Kenworthy hopes to keep up the good work at Avenue until at least 2024 now.

Speaking about his new deal, Sykes-Kenworthy said: “To be fair it wasn’t something that I gave much thought about.

“As soon as I found out that Danny (Boshell) and Bows (Mark Bower) were keen on keeping me for the upcoming seasons, I just thought why not?

“I’m playing football week in, week out and I’m enjoying it, and that’s just the main thing for me, playing games and enjoying it.”

A two-year deal is rare for this level of football, but Sykes-Kenworthy said: “I know that there are some plans for the club going forward, so when they offered me a two-year deal, I didn’t really have any questions when signing it.

“It was just straightforward, and I’m looking forward to getting going and competing this season, which is hopefully the aim.”

Sykes-Kenworthy received praise last term for his excellent performances, at one point even keeping six clean sheets in eight games.

He said: “I’m aiming for 15 (clean sheets) to start with.

“I’ve got a little deal with the goalkeeper coach. If we get more than 20 clean sheets, then I’ll get the number of clean sheets as a little tattoo on me, somewhere that can’t be seen anyway.

“But 15 is the aim to start with, and then anything more than that is a bonus really.

“I know we went on to a nice little run last year where we kept a fair few in a row. Once we got that consistent back four and people knew how each other played, we were fairly solid really.”

An influential factor in Sykes-Kenworthy staying is the togetherness of the dressing room.

He said: “I get along with everyone really. Everyone in the club is really friendly and welcomed me when I first joined. There’s a good chemistry among everyone and everyone gets along and gets involved.

“There aren’t really any groups or anything, it’s everyone as a team, which you don’t really find in dressing rooms, normally everyone has their little groups.

“But this is one of those changing rooms where I feel close to everyone.

“Me and young Liam (Hall) had been doing some work already with Danny (King), the goalkeeping coach, before we actually came back on Monday for our first training session.”

Sykes-Kenworthy, who had a trial with Carlisle United last season, told the Avenue supporters: “We know last season wasn’t the easiest of times, but hopefully this year we’re thinking we’re going to be competing a bit more.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be up there or thereabouts. At one stage we weren’t that far off last season, but we just didn’t have the numbers in the squad to keep up with the run we were going on.

“But hopefully there will be a couple more additions and everyone is getting back fully fit for the coming season.

“In my eyes anyway, we should be looking to push up there, really there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.”