Bradford City 2 Shrewsbury 0: Bantams waltzing towards the top as Law finally gets off mark

It adds up to some impressive marks for artistic merit thus far for the unbeaten Bantams, whose supporters are being wholly energised by their team’s style makeover under Stuart McCall, albeit with a few reassuringly familiar traits, too.

City, just a point behind League One leaders Scunthorpe United after extending their run without defeat at the start of the 2016-17 campaign to an eye-catching 12 league matches, displayed the new and the old on Saturday – and both had their place.

Never mind Strictly. An expertly choreographed, in-sync first half saw the hosts trip the light fantastic on occasions, producing some lovely football that was far too enlightened for managerless Shrewsbury.

In front of a bunch of 35 Dutch supporters who had journeyed from Rotterdam to Valley Parade, with Bradford being the destination for their annual sporting trip to England, City turned on a show in the first period – without quite hitting the ‘total football’ heights of Oranje in their pomp.

But on the restart, it was all about grit, organisation and determination; time-honoured facets that served the club so well under McCall’s predecessor, Phil Parkinson.

The end result was City’s third League One victory on the spin with a very good start to the season turning into a manifestly excellent one.

It may not have yielded the emphatic triumph that looked a fair bet in arriving when supporters took stock at the interval with the hosts making unduly heavy weather of proceedings on the resumption.

In the final analysis, it still produced a deserved three points, with City producing the sort of performance that serves as solid fuel in the autumn and winter months.

The big individual plus-point arrived by way of Nicky Law’s belated first goal for the claret-and-amber since his summer return with the midfielder finding the net for City for the first time since January, 2009.

Collectively, a fifth clean sheet of the League One campaign was also something to certainly curry favour with McCall, with the performances of Nathaniel Knight-Pervical and Romaine Vincelot likely to ensure that Rory McArdle and Nathan Clarke will continue to cool their heels on the bench for a little while yet.

On his side extending their unbeaten league streak to a dozen games, with City’s last league defeat coming on April 19, McCall said: “We do not speak about it (the unbeaten run) as a staff and we certainly do not talk about it to the players.

“But you do sense that they do. You can hear them.

“At half-time, they were saying ‘let’s not concede’. It is not a case that we sat back and did not look for a second goal. But the bottom line is you keep a clean sheet and you win the game.

“There is a sense of that between the lads, not just those starting but throughout the club.

“Whoever gets the opportunity wants to do their best for the team and try to keep this unbeaten run going.

“Everything comes to an end. But we will enjoy it while we can and the players deserve great credit for what they are achieving at the moment.

“But it is still only early days. We are always aware of banana skins around the corner.”

Bradford smoothly moved through the gears on occasions in the first half, with the only surprise being that it yielded just one goal.

It proved a good one with a lovely interchange between Jordy Hiwula and Filipe Morais ending with the latter seeing his goalbound shot blocked by Abu Ogogo only for Law to back up and effortlessly steer the rebound into the net on 21 minutes.

It was the ninth successive occasion that the Shrews have gone behind in a game.

A last-ditch block by Jack Grimmer prevented Morais from adding a second after a weaving run, with some of City’s incisive approach play and pure footballing traits in the final third being a joy to behold at times in a thoroughly one-sided first half.

Shrewsbury awoke from their slumber to start to make a game of it on the restart, but despite a game showing, they lacked true conviction, with the Bantams’ resolute defence afforded few scares.

One genuine threat did arrive on 55 minutes when the ball appeared to strike Stephen’s Darby’s hand in the area, but referee Dean Whitestone was unmoved.

A stoppage-time header from Joe Riley which drifted not too far wide also caused a few palpitations before City sealed it from the spot after Antoni Sarcevic sent home substitute Daniel Devine tumbling.

It was left to another replacement in Haris Vuckic to coolly send Jayson Leutwiler the wrong way – with subsequent news at the final whistle of Scunthorpe’s home draw with Northampton Town adding to the sense of well-being.