JAKE Reeves is determined to keep a lid on expectations after City's high-octane start.

The third-placed Bantams are four points behind unbeaten League One leaders Shrewsbury with eight wins from the opening 12 games.

Stuart McCall's men have not lost away from Valley Parade and will be tipped to extend that run on Saturday against Bury, who have been defeated three times on their own patch.

That has ramped up the spotlight on the Bantams – with bookies reporting more title bets have been placed on them this month than any other club in the division.

Yet Reeves stressed that City will not be getting caught up in any hype.

"Expectation from the outside and the media will naturally go up if you are winning games – but we've got to keep level-headed," he said.

"We just go game by game. We respect everyone and don't look past trying to win the next three points.

"We're always confident. Even when we're not playing well, we're confident that we're not going to lose.

"We always fancy ourselves to score goals, which comes from us winning games. But nobody is getting carried away."

With 26 points so far, City are two ahead of the corresponding weekend last year – when Oxford ended their unbeaten league tag with a last-minute winner.

Midfielder Reeves believes the present side have room for improvement.

"It's a good achievement so far to put us in a positive position," he said.

"If I'm honest, I think we're still gelling because it's a relatively new squad. There's still more from us to come.

"We're not really looking at the table but it's nice that we can go away from home and really put in a positive performance."

Reeves was a driving force behind last weekend's 4-1 win at MK Dons, a result that has stirred interest nationally.

It was a particularly sweet success for a player who made 123 appearances for Wimbledon.

"There's always that inside you when you play for a club and you come up against their biggest rivals," he said.

"I spoke to a couple of my old Wimbledon team-mates last week who wanted me to turn them over and we did the job."

Reeves scored only once last season – against Milton Keynes – and is still looking to break his duck since making the £150,000 move to Valley Parade in the summer.

But a first City goal could be getting closer after he tried his luck with a couple of efforts last week. Reeves was also hauled down when through on goal in the early incident which saw home midfielder Aaron Tshibola red-carded.

The Bantams continue to share the goals around, with Paul Taylor becoming the 11th different name on the scoresheet so far.

Reeves said: "We've got some really good players who are unfortunate not to be starting. Taylor is one of them.

"I think he has done well and was maybe disappointed not to start last week but again came on and proved what an asset he can be.

"I had a couple of digs but their keeper did well. But it's a good sign that I'm actually shooting – it feels as if I've hardly had a shot in the last two years!"