Bradford (Park Avenue) goalkeeper George Sykes-Kenworthy sees no reason why the club cannot bounce straight back from relegation to the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

The former Bantams stopper also laid bare just how tough it was to survive in National League North this season, as he revealed his side only narrowly missed out on their initial points target.

Most would agree that Sykes-Kenworthy is capable of playing at a much higher level that the seventh tier, but he said: "I'm still under contract for another year, so as far as I'm aware, I'll be heading back to the club for next season unless anything changes.

"Hopefully we can bounce straight back to National League North too, but that depends on our recruitment.

"I'm not sure what's happening budget-wise with that, and I know a lot has been said about it, but we just try and stay out of it as players.

"I hope our recruitment for next season is good though, and if it is, I see no reason why we shouldn't be challenging for promotion."

Avenue picked up 46 points from their 46 league games this season, so could perhaps considers themselves unlucky to finish second-bottom with that total.

Sykes-Kenworthy said: "It was always going to be a tough year, with four teams going down.

"To be honest, I find that a bit crazy, especially with only two teams getting promoted from the division.

"It certainly wasn't through a lack of effort why we went down.

“At the start of the season, we said our rough target was to reach 50 points, which we were only just short of (as it transpired, Avenue would have needed that magic half-century exactly to survive).

“Ultimately, what we got wasn’t enough.”

Avenue went six matches unbeaten to go into their final game with a chance of survival, but it was an awful run of one win in 17 before that which ultimately cost them.

Sykes-Kenworthy reflected: “We knew it was almost mission impossible but we got ourselves in the position we did on the final day when no-one had given us a hope of doing so.

“It’s obviously not that we weren’t trying hard all season, but with that added pressure of knowing we needed points to survive in the final few games, we had people throwing themselves at the ball more maybe for example.

“We had to fight, win more 50-50s than the opposition and have a more aggressive approach.”

Sykes-Kenworthy played every one of Avenue’s league games this season, but injuries and suspensions meant he had an ever-changing backline in front of him.

The former City man admitted: “You saw towards the end of the season, when we had a settled back four with Mitch Lund and Reece Staunton returning, it made a difference.

“We were a bit more comfortable then, and that’s no disrespect to the lads who came in on loan, but Lundy and Reece just understand the BPA style a bit more.

“It’s one of things though, injuries and suspensions happen, and with a squad our size, we were never going to have a settled back four.”