Town’s players finally gave their fans something to smile about and gave them hope for the new year with an impressive victory against Bradford, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.

The two games over Christmas against Macclesfield and Bradford summed up our season as the players again frustrated fans by putting in inconsistent performances.

Injuries aside, Town can’t argue they have been without luck this season, and failure to beat teams such as Hereford, Grimsby and Macclesfield show why we have been unable to remain in the play-off and automatic promotion places.

Hopefully the victory against Bradford will kick start Town’s season as they moved up to eighth in the league.

However, we shouldn’t get carried away as we have seen too often this season how good and how bad we can be. Plus Bradford, who many would argue should be challenging for promotion, are having a similarly difficult season.

The problem we face is that the league is so tight, with few points separating a lot of teams, and the sides around us have games in hand.

A special mention should be made to Terry Dunfield who has surprised many with some impressive form and has often been the stand out performer in what has been a poor team of late.

I was one of his biggest critics, but he now seems to have settled into the team and got over his injury problems. The challenge will now be for him to sustain his form in the new year.

Town first game of 2010 is a tough trip to promotion chasers Chesterfield who have won nine of their 11 league home games this season.

It will take a big effort to come away with anything, but confidence, which has been lacking for a while now, should hopefully have returned to the players following the Bradford game.

In looking back on 2009 it has been a disappointing year for Town with promotion heartache and an inconsistent first half to the current campaign.

With the new year around the corner, it brings new hope and hopefully 2010 will be one to remember for fans for all the right reasons.