After December's win against Exeter, I sat down, with a liberal dose of optimism, and wrote the editorial for the Christmas issue of New Frontiers. I quote, "More consistency and we will have a good second half to the season. Promotion, championships, play offs and WEMBLEY are still realistic targets." We all know what happened as City propelled themselves into the play off picture. If we can keep the Xmas / New Year form going then it will be Wembley here we come again in May. Some of the wins have been achieved with a lot of panache from our forwards and reliability from our defence.

Last time, I wrote about Glenn Naylor starting to fulfil his potential. What happened? Steve Cooper comes back from injury and starts showing his class. His header at Wrexham lead to Steve Tutill's equaliser and then against Exeter he scored once and earned a penalty in the 3-0 win. His goal illustrated why Alan Little paid £35,000 for him. He outjumped the defence, and his powerful, bullet like, header was always destined for the back of the net. We even got a somersault as well! To show it wasn't a fluke, he got the first in the win at Swansea a week later. A lot was made of his heading ability when he signed, its good to see City benefitting from it.

Unfortunately, against Hull he got himself sent off for a silly offence. Steve, we need you in the penalty box and not the main stand. Don't do it again.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the run of success has been the form of Steve Bushell. We have always known he had plenty of talent, its good that he has been able to string together a series of near man of the match performances. A few weeks ago, we would have expected him to lose his place when Nigel Pepper was available, not now as Bushell's all action midfield displays have added something extra to City's performances.

Also in midfield, Gary Swann is going quietly, but effectively about his business. Some may ask what does he do, but he's the type of player you only notice when he isn't there.

The only bad thing about seeing Paul Stancliffe back in defence is that it has prompted a transfer request from Ray Warburton. Undoubtedly, Stan's return has help to inspire the run of success, but his playing days are numbered. A fit Ray Warburton would be an asset to the team, both in defence and in attack at set pieces. Ray, withdraw your transfer request at once, Stan is probably more injury prone that you.

I've already mentioned Steve Cooper's sending off against Hull. I didn't get a proper view of what he did to warrant the sending off. My attention was drawn to the rocket that was launched from The Popular Stand. I saw it come out of the crowd and travel towards the corner flag in front of the Social Club. It hovered about 3 feet above the ground before falling to earth just inside the corner flag. As I watched, I was reminded of the rocket at the recent Wales v Romania game and its tragic consequences. Let's hope it was a one off incident and doesn't happen again at Bootham Crescent.

As tempers rose during the Hull game, the Hull keeper collected a handful of coins from inside his goal area. Some keepers might have drawn the referee's attention to what was going on. Fortunately, Alan Fettis didn't. He carried on with the game.

The Football Association could take a dim view of such actions. Fines and / or ground closures and all the resultant bad publicity could result. The Welsh FA received a £7,000 fine. City couldn't afford such an amount.

The game at Blackpool showed that on our day, City have got no one to fear. Some of the football that day was superb, it deserved to grace The Carling Premiership. Straight from the kick off the game was destined to be an away win. Paul Barnes was Paul Barnes as he made the game safe in the first 15 minutes. Ably supported by his colleagues, City proceeded to tear huge holes in the Blackpool defence. The whole team played well, on that form, we have no one to fear this season. On that form, all we have to decide is whether we want automatic promotion or promotion via a trip to Wembley!

Finally, Paul Hayes, our regular music correspondent writes his final piece in this issue. Unless someone fills the breach, this will be the last issue to contain a music page. Thanks Paul.

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