Bradford (Park Avenue) must beat Basford United to stay up

It has been a hellish season for the Horsfall outfit in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, with long-term injuries galore to key players like Jamie Spencer, Will Longbottom and Mitch Lund.

Those three were seen as a key trio in Avenue’s attempts to return to National League North, but instead, their campaign has gone completely the other way.

Avenue ended August with two wins and two draws, picking up eight points from six games.

But two permanent managers, three caretakers, an expelled relegation rival in Marske and 68 goals later, Avenue have gained just 18 more points from their last 31 matches, meaning today is the last-chance saloon.

Successive away wins at Warrington Rylands and Workington in early-February offered hope of an escape, as did a 1-0 victory at home to fellow strugglers Stafford at the start of March.

Chinedu Osadebe celebrates wildly after scoring a late winner in the 3-2 victory at Warrington Rylands back in February. (Image: John Rhodes.)

But the Easter Weekend proved decisive, as Basford won against Atherton and Worksop, while Avenue threw away a pair of two-goal leads to draw at Ilkeston and lose on home soil to Radcliffe.

Basford visit Horsfall today, knowing a win puts them on the brink of safety.

If Avenue claim victory, they will be four points behind Basford with two games to go, but draw or lose, and the gap to their visitors and safety will be an insurmountable seven points or nine.

Danny Whitaker’s men therefore have the simplest task this afternoon, but are they capable of pulling it off?