BRADFORD Park Avenue boss Mark Bower is looking for a positive reaction from his players after their run of four consecutive Vanarama National North victories was ended with last Saturday’s home defeat against Tamworth.

He felt his side had let some soft goals in as they lost 4-3 and has challenged them to start another winning run.

He said: “We let some poor goals in and given ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding so early on.

“But it was unlike us because the run we’d been on was built on good defending and being sharp in the final third, taking the chances when they came.

"We haven’t suddenly lost that from our game, its just one bad performance and it’s up to us to start putting points on the board again by stringing another few results together.”

Avenue remain in sixth place and they know another win tomorrow would see them in the play-off places over Christmas. However, they face a tough away game as they head to the Merseyrail Community Stadium for a third meeting with Southport this term.

The Sandgrounders won the reverse league fixture 2-1 at the Horsfall Stadium, Adam Boyes netting Avenue’s goal, but Bower’s men knocked Southport out of the FA Trophy with a 3-0 win on their last trip to the Lancashire coast.

Southport are in a relegation battle as they sit just outside the drop zone having taken just two points from the last 15 available.

The gap between them and the three clubs currently in the drop zone is just one point, and the two immediately below them have games in hand.

The Sandgrounders are now under the stewardship of Kevin Davies and the former Bolton Wanderers and England striker appears to be making a difference, however, his side also lost by the odd goal last weekend.

Davies’ side went down 3-2 at fellow strugglers Boston United after the home side hit a late winner but the manager feels that one big result will give them a huge boost.

He said, “It was déjà vu (at Boston) as a group in the second half we didn’t perform.

“That’s the mentality of not winning for so long – it was very disappointing. There were positives to take from the game despite the loss. Now we need to stick together and push on.”

Davies, who saw his assistant, former Bradford City defender John Dreyer depart this week after just 62 days in the role due to the pressure of still living in the south, added: “We need to get the performance and the result, if we can do that it gives us a big lift.”

His opposite number, Bower, added, “We’ve got the Southport game and then we’re straight into back to back games against Curzon Ashton on Boxing Day and New Year's Day so there is a chance to pick up a lot of points over a short spell.

“If we don’t do that we could find ourselves a long way down the table so the incentive really is there for us and we need to seize it.”