City are officially the best second-half team in the country right now.

Last week’s come-back win over Shrewsbury was just the latest example of the staying power of Phil Parkinson’s side.

In their nine league games, City have “won” six of the second periods and drawn the other three.

They are one of only six teams across all four divisions who are still “unbeaten” after the break.

And their plus nine goal difference just shades it over MK Dons and current League Two leaders Chesterfield.

City last conceded a goal in the second half when Doug Loft fired a deflected winner for Port Vale on August 17 – they have kept six “clean sheets” since then.

The one previous second-half strike came from Bristol City’s Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the first day of the season.

Phil Parkinson said: “That’s a good record. It shows the fitness of the team and the mental toughness to keep going like that.

“We’ve had those few away games when I felt we didn’t start too well but equally to have the ability to keep going is so important.

“You see it all the time in football that a game’s not over ’til it’s over. You get late goals all the time.

“We are a very fit team and there is a great attitude in the dressing room. Myself, Steve (Parkin) and Nick (Allamby) approach every game knowing that we will keep going all the way.”

Eleven of City’s 19 league goals have come after the interval – including both to beat Shrewsbury which moved them up to fifth. James Hanson sealed the recovery with the second in the third minute of added time.

Parkinson insists that finishing so strongly is a great habit to have.

“You just have to look at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson over the years and the games they won late on. The number of times it happened is phenomenal.

“Obviously, ideally you want to be up in the game at half-time and make it more comfortable after that.

“But if you do have a difficult start, like we did on Saturday, it’s great that you’ve got that determination and mentality to keep going right to the end.”