Bradford (Park Avenue) boss Mark Bower insists the previous uncertainty of where tomorrow’s game against Chester FC could have been played has not had an impact on his side.
The Avenue will be the first visiting team to the Swansway Chester Stadium in more than a month for a 3pm kick-off in the National League North.
The Blues have not played at home since the opening day of the season following a succession of away games after water damage following a heavy downpour affected the club’s PA and CCTV systems.
It rendered the Swansway Chester Stadium without a valid safety certificate, which meant it could not host home games until repairs had been made and standards had been satisfied.
After several weeks of hard work included fitting new PA and CCTV systems – involving the installation of more than 100 speakers and two miles worth of cabling – it was finally confirmed that tomorrow’s game would indeed go ahead at the home of the Blues.
Had the game not taken place in Chester, there was the potential for the game to instead be held at Macclesfield Town’s Moss Rose stadium .
But despite the recent confirmation of where the game will take place , Bower vowed his side’s focus has only been on the players Blues joint-bosses Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson could select to face the Yorkshire side, who currently sit third in the National League North standings.
Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus , Bower said: “All we’re focused on is their team. A lot of them have knocked around at this level for years, so we know what to expect.”
On their previous outing, the high flying Avenue drew 2-2 away against bottom side FC United of Manchester and have lost only once out of their eight National League North fixtures so far.
Discussing the game to the Bradford paper, Bower added: “We were by far and away the better team and should have picked up three points.
“If you look at the Boston United and Spennymoor Town games, they had far more chances but we kept two clean sheets.
“We’ll take the positives though and we’ve still got a strong squad available. Danny East is our only absentee and our bench was so strong on Sunday that I could have put any of the substitutes on.”
