Bradford City 3, Swindon Town 0; by Richard Sutcliffe, at Valley Parade.

The smile on Paul Jewell's face after his Bradford City side had moved into fifth place of the First Division said it all.

In the past eight days, the Bantams had played three of the division's in-form sides and despite not reproducing their glorious football of October, they had still managed to pick up seven points.

And but for a dreadful refereeing decision at Norwich the previous weekend, City could have even earned a maximum nine points from those three games.

Swindon arrived at Valley Parade on the back of a fine recent run of just one defeat in six games under new manager Jimmy Quinn. Tellingly, the Robins had also conceded just five goals during that run.

However 90 minutes later, City had chalked up their fifth consecutive home league victory - a run which has yielded 17 goals and seen just one conceded - and Jewell was in a relaxed and happy mood.

As with the midweek victory at Tranmere, Jewell's men ground out the result and although a three-goal winning margin possibly flattered the home side, Swindon could have few complaints with their defeat.

The Robins' 3-5-2 formation meant that space was limited for City's widemen. Both Peter Beagrie and Robbie Blake were marked tightly by the Swindon wing-backs but through sheer hard work and persistence, the pair both managed to play important parts in City's victory.

And in the centre of the field, both Gareth Whalley and the impressive Nigel Pepper worked tirelessly to break down the visitors' defence.

Pepper, who has had to be content with a place on the bench for much of the season, was only in the starting line-up due to Stuart McCall being suspended, but he took his chance with both hands.

One of the committed midfielder's big strengths is bursting through from the back to bolster the attack and for long periods this looked like being City's best hope of breaking the deadlock.

Pepper also possesses a mean shot and after twice being denied with long range efforts by the agility of Town goalkeeper Frank Talia, he deservedly grabbed the goal of the game in the 79th minute.

Isaiah Rankin rolled the ball inside for Pepper who, from 25 yards, thundered a right foot shot into the corner of the net to cap a fine individual performance.

Pepper was also involved in City's opener just after half-time. Beagrie had beaten a man out wide on the left when he sent over a deep cross which saw Pepper rise high with Talia.

The City man appeared to barge the Swindon goalkeeper to the floor only for the referee to wave play on as Lee Mills hooked the ball goalwards. Defender Craig Taylor punched the ball clear to earn himself a red card and allow Beagrie to net the resulting penalty.

Swindon boss Quinn was incensed to see Pepper's challenge go unpunished and started his post-match press conference by saying ''how does that song go lads? 'The referee's a...','' before breaking into a broad smile.

Quinn knew the incident had changed the game because Taylor's dismissal gave City much more space to work in and they could easily have had more goals before Pepper and Wayne Jacobs, again enjoying a strong game both in defence and attack, sealed the three points in the final 11 minutes.

City's defensive work also deserves a commendation because they managed to restrict a lively Swindon attack to just one shot on target - a tame effort by Iffy Onuora which went straight at Gary Walsh.

The late goals capped a fine day for the delighted City fans who also learned that their side had jumped above rivals Huddersfield Town for the first time this season.

And with the two sides due to meet at the McAlpine Stadium next Saturday, the scene is set for a real cracker as the Bantams look to extend their great run of just one defeat in 12 league games.

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