With Bradford City's game against Wolves today marking the halfway stage of their season, any interim report must read: 'Excellent progress, but still a lot of hard work ahead'.

The Bantams caught many in football by surprise during the summer when they splashed out £3.3 million on new players to try and build a side capable of chasing promotion to the Premiership.

Seven new faces arrived at Valley Parade as Paul Jewell embarked on his first full season as a manager hoping that next May, he could help end the club's 77-year long wait for a place in the top flight.

Pre-season form was not over encouraging with only local youngster Gareth Grant catching the eye with his pace creating several good openings.

Paul Jewell rightly said his side would take time to gel due to the number of new faces at Valley Parade although it soon became clear once the campaign got underway that several fans weren't prepared to wait.

City crashed to four defeats in their opening six league games culminating in a dreadful display at Ipswich and the snipers were out in force.

The turning point in the season undoubtedly came in front of the Sky Television cameras when two early goals from Lee Mills at high-flying West Brom helped City seal a surprising 2-0 victory.

In their next home game, against Barnsley, Gordon Watson's late brace not only set up one of the most memorable finishes to a game at Valley Parade in recent years, but also earned what has turned out to be an equally important three points.

City have simply not looked back since that win at the Hawthorns and in the 15 games before today's clash with Wolves, Paul Jewell's men have picked up 30 points - a superb return.

The City boss said: "I am pleased with how we are playing but I think people have to keep a level head when things don't go well. People were starting to write us off after we lost to Huddersfield and QPR.

"But it is still early days and they never hand out the medals at this stage of the season. We have, though, got a better squad and quality of players than we had last season."

Stuart McCall's return to Valley Parade has undoubtedly been instrumental in this fine run with his class and experience giving City a mighty advantage over their rivals.

Along with the hugely impressive Gareth Whalley, the former Scottish international has helped City take control of midfield in countless games to build the platform for victory.

This has also allowed wide players such as Peter Beagrie, who has been in fine form all season, to use their tricky skills to great effect and open up opposition defences.

Up front, Lee Mills has proved to be a bargain buy even though he became the club's first £1 million signing on the eve of the new season.

Several pundits and supporters remarked at the start of the season how they felt the fee was a little on the large side. However those doubters have been made to eat their words thanks to Mills' all-action displays which, going into today's clash with Wolves, had already brought him 13 goals.

Mills' displays have been all the more impressive because he has had to play with a variety of partners. Isaiah Rankin, Robbie Blake and Gordon Watson have all, at one time, been the first choice striker alongside Mills and it is to the big hitman's credit that he has linked up well with all three.

In the early part of the season, the defence were a real worry. Hesitant, sloppy and lacking in confidence, the City defence seemed about as likely to keep a clean sheet as David Beckham being named as this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

I must admit that throughout the victory at West Brom in mid-September, I was fully expecting City to concede a sloppy goal at any time and allow the Baggies back into the game.

However City held out and since then, the QPR and Grimsby games apart, have been impressive with Darren Moore back to the form which caught the attention of several Premiership scouts last season. As Jewell rightly says, City have won nothing but friends at this stage.

And if City are to end their long, long wait for a return to the top flight, then a lot of hard work lies ahead.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.