BRADFORD (Park Avenue) manager Danny Whitaker believes it won’t be long before loanee Jake Daniels gets a starting birth in the side.

The Blackpool FC striker arrived on a one-month loan just three weeks ago, but he’s made an instant impact at the Horsfall since arriving from The Tangerines.

He produced a stunning assist on his debut for Chinedu Osadebe, as the forward headed in Daniels’ cross to see Avenue to a dramatic 3-2 victory at Warrington Rylands.

Last week the Blackpool loan star earned Avenue a 1-1 draw at home to Ashton United, as he thundered home a sensational late equaliser to rescue the hosts a point.

Despite his successes so far, all of his appearances have been from the bench, but ahead of this weekend’s trip to Marine, Whitaker feels that it won’t be too long before supporters get to catch a glimpse of Daniels right from the start.

Speaking to Avenue’s social media, Avenue’s boss said: “His goal was a worldie against Ashton, but he’s got that in his locker. He’s a game changer whether that’s from the start or from the bench.

“He (Daniels) is a fine footballer and he’s shown that with his assist against Rylands, particularly with the way he travels with the ball. And the goal against Ashton showed his class even more.

“He’s been unlucky with not getting starts, but so have a few players within the squad. We’ve ended up bringing them off the bench, but then we’ve gone on and won the game, so it’s been hard to change a winning squad really.

“However, they’re very close to getting that start and when they do, they need to work hard and show me that they deserve to keep their place.

“Patience is needed but if they continue performing like this, then it will be hard to leave these players out. It shows where we are as a team though in relation to competition which is good.”

Reflecting on the Ashton contest, Whitaker said: “It was an eventful first half last week to say the least. I thought we were quite unlucky not to score and take the lead, but that’s how things go.

“I’ve got to say, I was disappointed with a few aspects of our performance in the first half because I don’t think we moved the ball quick enough which frustrated me.

“However, I had a few conversations with people after the game and they said that we looked good, which might point to how much we’ve improved, and that I might be expecting too much from them.

“However, I don’t think that is the case because when we have moved the ball sideways and quickly, we’ve shown that we can be a really attractive team to watch. Thankfully, we’ve got our just rewards for it in our recent games with some good results.

“All-in-all, we would have taken a point at the start of the game because of the position we are in, and the fact that Ashton are a strong team.”

Avenue take on Marine away from home today (3pm) and it provides the side from Horsfall with another opportunity to continue with their push up the table, but they face a strong side who are destined to finish in the play-offs.

Looking ahead to the fixture, Whitaker said: “We need to approach this game full of confidence because a couple of weeks ago, if someone had said that we’d have taken seven points from our last three games against some strong opponents, then we’d have bitten their arm off.

“For us, we’ve been able to look back at our game against Ashton in detail and work hard on the training ground. It’s now about continuing with that confident feeling so that we can approach each game with as much belief as possible.”