At the beginning of August when pre-season optimism was high on the back of two draws with top quality Spanish opponents, most Tranmere fans would have been overjoyed to be in third place in League One and within touching distance of the top two by the end of January.

Last Saturday's draw at Luton was vital in the sense that we are no further behind them now than we were before kick-off. This point can be used as the solid foundation for our last 16 matches where we still face important games against Hull at home and the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Hartlepool away.

Rovers are traditionally a team that, particularly over the last two or three seasons, has reserved its best performances and results for the final third of the season. And it's fair to say that a repeat performance of the 2002/03 season - where Rovers went unbeaten in the last 15 games - would be most welcome.

Despite the impressive league position, form has been largely inconsistent this season and it has taken the brilliance of Iain Hume to bail Tranmere out on more than one occasion. The goals have been shared out which is by no means a criticism, but testament to the great sense of teamwork that Brian Little and his back room team has instilled in the club. It's good that in Ryan Taylor we now have someone who is confident enough to consistently score from the penalty spot - something we have perhaps been missing since John Aldridge hung up his boots.

Also, with the majority of our remaining away games against top-half sides, it's important the team seems to have put the travel sickness behind them. 6-1 and 4-0 defeats on the road earlier in the season have recently been put right by a convincing 2-0 win at Walsall and the most satisfying 5-1 thumping of Wrexham at the Racecourse. It's more than likely that this turnaround in away form is due to the utilisation of the 3-5-2 wingback formation that exploits the pace of Roberts and Taylor and sees Hume and Dagnall link well upfront. Similarly, Theo Whitmore's free role in midfield has been equally as successful.

This time last year when we were still ultimately involved in a relegation battle, who would have thought we'd attract a player of Jason McAteer's quality and experience? Perhaps just as impressive were the acquisitions of Michael Jackson and Mark Rankine who have both been outstanding so far. We may not have seen the best of McAteer yet but without him as captain, it's unlikely we'd be third and the way he lifted the players to a 2-0 victory when he came off the bench against Oldham was inspiring.

Youngster Calvin Zola looked extremely impressive at first and it is important that Rovers fans haven't seen more of him. But UK residency problems are still keeping him out of action and rumours that he is 25 years old and not 19 as it says on his passport don't serve as easy listening for Rovers fans.

The amazing FA Cup runs have become a major highlight of Tranmere's seasons over the past few years after recording some remarkable victories over Premiership opposition to reach the quarter final stage three times in the last five years. Given this, the first round defeat this season was a choker made even worse by the manner in which we lost the game - in the last minute.

One of the reasons for our large squad this season is down to last season's cup run and Lorraine Rogers has made no secret of the potential implications this season's first round defeat could have on the financial side of things. We have budgeted for promotion this season and should we fail to achieve this, big players may have to be sold in the summer.

Even the LDV run - to the northern semis - doesn't compensate for the FA Cup failure as attendance's are generally low and there's never the chance of a money spinner against a Premiership big boy.

A positive that we can take from no longer being involved in any of the cups though is the old cliché that we're now free to concentrate on the league. League form has clearly suffered over the last few seasons in both Divisions one and two and the extensive cup involvement has left us with games in hand and playing catch-up on our rivals. Now we've got a clear run in the league from now until May and this makes the promotion dream more likely to materialise.

Many fans will be in agreement that it's hard to imagine we'd be talking of promotion without Brian Little at the helm. In the 14 months he's been at Prenton Park, he's taken us from relegation battlers to title contenders and not many managers would be able to lure players of Jason McAteer's calibre to League One. Similarly, not many players would prefer to stay in League One and turn down a move to Championship play-off hopefuls Preston North End. But thankfully, Little has convinced Iain Hume of the potential at Rovers.

We've got four regular international players now which is something we haven't had in a long while and some would argue that with a fully fit Simon Haworth we'd have five. but Simon has been desperately unfortunate over the last year with a broken leg and despite the emergence of young Dagnall, I'm sure every fan wants to see Simon back as soon as possible.

A few weeks ago, this double header of away games against Luton and Bradford looked like it may be the two games that shaped our season. Most would feel that four points from the two matches would mean all systems go for our promotion push. With one already in the bank from Kenilworth Road, let's make sure we win at Bradford and try to break back into the top two. Colchester at home the following week is certainly a game we can take full advantage of, especially with Hull and Luton meeting on the same day.

Graeme Dolphin