BRADFORD Park Avenue face two games in five days that boss Mark Bower feels will give him a good indication of how ready his players are for the coming season.

Avenue travel to Evo-Stik Division One North outfit Ossett Town tonight and are at Farsley Celtic on Saturday.

The Celts were rivals of Ossett Town last term but are a division higher now following their double-winning season as they lifted the West Riding County Cup and then won the play-off final.

Bower said: “These next two games are very important ones for us because of who they are against.

“Farsley were promoted last season and Ossett also made the play-offs in their division, so they will be good tests for us - similar tests to what we’ll face in our league in this coming season so it’s a good mix of friendlies for us.”

Avenue began with a 6-1 win over Campion who play their football on step six of the pyramid.

They followed that with a 3-0 victory over Bradford City and kept their winning run going last Saturday with a 3-1 success at Albion Sports, who are a step higher than Campion.

Bower said: “We did okay against City in the first half. We were very clinical and stuck the ball in the net, which is something we didn’t do very well last season, so our confidence is quite high at the moment.

“But I’ve said it before – these friendly games are all about the fitness and getting playing time in the legs of the players.

"We managed to get some of the players a full 90 minutes at Albion on Saturday and we’re very happy with where we are in terms of fitness and game-time so far.”

Thackley are also in action tonight as they welcome Silsden for what will be the Dennyboys’ first home friendly.

Chris Reape’s men have only played one warm-up game so far - a 1-1 draw at Knaresborough Town last Saturday.

Danny Forrest’s Cobbydalers have played two home games but this will be their first journey.

Silsden were beaten 3-0 by Yorkshire Amateur but tasted victory in their second friendly, beating Campion 4-2 at the weekend.