Welcome to the second part of the 2007/08 season review, where Bob James takes a look back at a remarkable few months which saw Tony Pulis guide his side into the top four.

But of course league tables at the start of the season mean little, and as the weeks passed, a truer picture started to emerge. By the middle of September, City were in tenth place after taking two points from the next four games. Gabriel Zakuani who, as in the previous season, had joined on loan from Fulham, filled in for Craddock when the defender was recalled to Molineux by Mick McCarthy.

The transfer deadline came and went, and as usual there had been siren voices over the airwaves calling for new signings.

Tony Pulis, however, was not going to be rushed into buying players for inflated prices who were no better than those we had, and was happy to bide his time.

On the field, there were promising signs.Shawcross proved to be an impressive presence in both penalty areas and was playing with an assurance which belied his years.

(Liam Lawrence was in fine form for the Potters)

Liam Lawrence was playing surely some of the best football of his career, and Ricardo Fuller's pace and quick feet were frightening opposition defenders to death. Moreover, Rory Delap's long throws, delivered with varying trajectories that Shane Warne would have been proud of, meant that any throw-in within twenty-five yards of the goal-line was as good as a free-kick or corner.

The problem was lack of consistency by the team. Successive home defeats to the two Sheffield sides and Coventry were cases in point, with the Wednesday result raising fears for the fans that the old Achilles heel of 06-07 - conceding late goals - might be re-appearing.

The game at Scunthorpe showed the other side of the coin. Two late strikes from Liam Lawrence, one of them well into injury time, proved that City themselves were more than capable of nicking games at the death.

By the time that the clocks had gone back, the Potters were lying in ninth place, twelve points behind leaders Watford, who had raced away at the top of the table. But the football season is a marathon not a sprint, and as the nights grew longer, the gap with the leaders got smaller.

As we all know now, the Hornets were to falter while the Potters grew stronger.

(Leon Cort arrived from Crystal Palace on loan with a view to a club record fee of over £1,000,000)

The manager cannily brought in Leon Cort on loan from Crystal Palace with Clint Hill moving in the opposite direction.Cort had scored against City at the Britannia the previous season and his power in the air was well-known.

He soon opened his account with a header against QPR at home, followed by another goal in the next match - against Norwich, when a last-gasp Richard Cresswell strike brought three points. Danny Pugh had also arrived on loan from Preston to give the team more balance down the left. The jigsaw was taking a clear and definite shape.

These two consecutive home wins were absolutely vital and set the Potters up for an impressive unbeaten run which was to bring 23 points from eleven games before it came to an end with a late goal against Charlton at the Valley at the end of January.

(Ricardo Fuller celebrates after scoring his third goal against West Bromwich Albion, as the Potters sent out a message to the Championship)

There were some outstanding performances during this run: Sheffield Utd put to the sword in the first twenty minutes as City scored three goals and left Bryan Robson to ponder on his previous criticism of the Potters' style, City's play in the first half at Blackpool, where a 3-2 score-line hardly did justice to City's domination, Ricardo Fuller's hat-trick which sank West Brom. All these spring easily to mind.

But let's not forget the contribution of the other unsung heroes. Mamady Sidibe getting through loads of unselfish running and link-up play, Richard Cresswell straining every sinew in an unaccustomed position, John Eustace running himself into the ground.

The only blot on the landscape was the tendency to concede goals unnecessarily - not normally one of the traits of Tony Pulis' teams.