For City are top of a division for the first time in seven years following their high-octane fightback which sunk last season's Conference play-off winners.

The last time they were at the summit was after winning the first three games of the 2001-02 season after relegation from the Premier League. Since then, City's fortunes have been on the decline but now they have genuine reason to believe they can put the bad times behind them.

A brace of goals apiece from strike duo Peter Thorne and Michael Boulding took them above Wycombe at the top of League Two but it was the driving performance of right winger Joe Colbeck which sparked their second-half revival after having trailed at the break.

Colbeck tore into Exeter from the restart, firing in a barrage of shots which proved too hot for goalkeeper Paul Jones and which the veteran Thorne was delighted to capitalise on.

Thorne revealed he had been just 10 minutes away from pulling out of the game and was doubly delighted in taking his tally to eight goals in six league games – his best start to a season and a record which matched a spell in League One for Stoke in 2000 when he enjoyed a 13-goal spree in 10 matches in all competitions.

"I thought I had no chance after pulling a muscle in my back in training," said Thorne, on his way to the cult status enjoyed by another former City veteran, Dean Windass. "It was getting worse and I could hardly move but I came down early for a fitness test and in the end we took a gamble and decided to give it a go.

"I took some pain-killers but it was particularly bad in the first half and I have to thank Michael (Boulding) for doing my running for me. He scored a fantastic header and he deserved a hat-trick for his performance."

Thorne conceded City's first-half performance had not been up to standard and added: "We got a good rollocking and rightly so because we deserved it. But the manager still added that he thought we would go back out and win it and that gave us all a lift. We had not played well and were thinking 'what's going on out there?' but in the second half our two wingers got us going."

Thorne's predatory instincts appeared to take over when he knocked in his second rather than let Colbeck's angled drive cross the line but he explained: "To be fair, I knew little about it. The goalkeeper must have got a hand to it or something because the ball bounced up, hit my knee and went in off my head."

That goal in the 69th minute made it 3-1, Paul McLaren sliding the ball through for Colbeck to strike across the goalkeeper for Thorne to poach at the far post.

Four minutes later and it was game over as Omar Daley, as dangerous on the left as Colbeck was on the other flank, went past two men and squared the ball for Boulding, whose shot deflected home off Danny Seaborne as Jones was left wrong-footed.

What a turnround it had been after a first-half display for which McCall shouldered some of the blame.

"They made me snap my watch in temper in the dressing room at half-time but maybe they took me too literally when I told them they would have to be patient against an Exeter side who don't concede many goals. Consequently the tempo wasn't high enough," said the City chief. "I still had no doubts that they would go on to win the game and Joe Colbeck was the catalyst for everything. We have enough quality in the team but the players know that they have to be 'at it' all the time. Nobody will be resting on their laurels."

That is for sure if the City players remember how their first half lethargy almost cost them, centre-backs Graeme Lee and Matthew Clarke being given a particularly uncomfortable time by the pace and persistence of Adam Stansfield, who forced a fine tip over from Rhys Evans after holding off Lee in the area before robbing the City captain and clipping the bar with another effort.

Daley struck the woodwork and Thorne forced a fine block from Jones at the other end but the Grecians were worth their 38th-minute lead when Clarke sliced Ryan Harley's cross to Matt Gill, who scored off a post.

Colbeck's banzai-style response towards the Kop lifted the City fans and Thorne stabbed home the equaliser after Jones failed to hold the winger's 54th-minute shot.

Five minutes later and City's revival had gathered unstoppable momentum as Jones beat away another effort from Colbeck only to see Paul Arnison cross from the right for Boulding to leap and arch backwards to head home and put them on the way to a third straight home win.



Bradford City: Evans, Arnison, Lee, Clarke, Heckingbottom; Colbeck, McLaren, Bullock (Furman 75), Daley (Nix 82); M Boulding, Thorne (Conlon 75). Unused substitutes: Bower, Moncur.

Exeter City: Jones, Tully, Taylor, Seaborne, Moxey; Cozic (Sercombe 64), Gill, Edwards (Logan 70), Harley; Stewart, Stansfield (Watson 70). Unusued substitutes: Marriott, Panther.

Referee: C Webster (Tyne and Wear).