BRADFORD (Park Avenue) manager Mark Bower insisted he had “a lot of work to do”, as his side fell to a sixth consecutive defeat at the hands of a relentless Southport side.

Bower’s side have had a gruelling start to the season.

They are yet to pick up their first National League North win and suffered a woeful 2-1 FA Cup defeat to lower league opposition in the form of Ashington.

But they were optimistic their chances would improve with an easier run of fixtures approaching, with Southport having started the league season slowly too.

However, a screamer from Jack Bainbridge, strikes from Tyler Walton and Charlie Oliver, along with a stoppage time finish from Jordan Archer denied any hopes of a redemption story, despite Brad Dockerty’s best efforts with a goal before half-time.

Bower was left deflated after Avenue’ latest league defeat, saying: “Tough game.

“We’ve come away to Southport who are going to be direct and ask questions by putting balls in the box, played against a really strong wind first half, started okay and then five minutes in their lad has hit an unbelievable effort. A half volley from 20, 25 yards straight into the top corner.

“After that we sort of hung in there, they put us under pressure and we put in some last-ditch defending.

“We got to 40 minutes, were 1-0 down, we’ve got this strong wind behind us for the second half, and I felt we were in a decent position.

“But then there were those two really poor goals, we lost the game in that five minute spell before half-time.

“The two goals we gave away were poor, it shouldn’t happen, it just shouldn’t happen.

“And then you give yourself a mountain to climb.

“Brad (Dockerty) gets one back for us just before half-time, you give yourself a little lifeline and then second half it went a little bit more how we expected it.

“We got a lot of the ball in their half of the pitch, we had some great opportunities where we played lads in but first touches let us down. We didn’t play with enough quality.”

Bower added: “We need a better all-round performance, we’ve got to defend better, we’ve got to do better with the ball, we’ve got to be better in and around the box.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do moving forward, because we’re in a really poor position and we’re not picking up enough points.”

While it was a quiet start for both teams, the game burst into life thanks to an audacious Bainbridge strike, hammering the ball home from 25 yards out on the half volley to propel Southport into an early advantage.

With 40 minutes played, Southport doubled their lead. Former Farsley Celtic midfielder Walton was positioned well to latch onto a teasing pass from Archer, before arrowing the ball into the bottom corner.

And just a minute later, Southport fans were in dreamland again, as a blatant handball from Lucas Odunston in the box saw the youngster receive a booking and a penalty was gifted to the Port, with it being comfortably dispatched by Oliver.

Dockerty then scored his first goal since returning to Avenue from Alfreton Town last month, giving the visitors a glimmer of hope heading into the dressing rooms at the break.

In the second half, chances were few and rare, but Archer did come close just after the restart. with his header being heroically cleared off of the line.

But as the game headed into stoppage time, Southport sealed the three points through a guided header from Archer after a cross from Niall Watson was comfortably turned home.

Bradford are next in action on Saturday with a must-win home game against Curzon Ashton, who could break into the play-off places with an away victory.