STUART McCall is getting his head around the difference of leading City in a different division.

But he has still not made up his mind if League Two has changed from how he remembers it.

Nearly a month into his third spell at the Valley Parade hot-seat and McCall is preparing to face his highest-ranked opponent to date.

Fourth-placed Plymouth promise a testing afternoon as the Bantams look to bounce back from those painful back-to-back defeats on the road.

McCall took the chance to check out the Pilgrims’ progress last week when he accompanied assistant boss Kenny Black to their game at Macclesfield.

That spying mission to watch the 1-1 draw – the pair staying long enough to witness Plymouth’s late equaliser – was followed with a night in front the TV 24 hours later to watch Newport and Salford battle it out in the Leasing.com Trophy.

McCall is cramming in the homework as he gets accustomed to the division once more.

But he remains undecided about how much it has differed from the fourth tier that he left 10 years ago.

He said: “I haven’t really seen enough to make a decision compared to when I was at this level last time.

“I do remember the likes of Paul Ince’s team at MK Dons and Paul Lambert’s (Wycombe), Darren Ferguson’s (Peterborough) side as well. They had some top quality in there and all went on to do well.

“Whether there’s that much about this time, I’m not sure.

“I was looking forward to watching Plymouth the other night because everyone has been telling me that they are the best team in this league football-wise.

“But Macclesfield were really impressive with the way they went about it and could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up after 20 minutes.

“I don’t think there’s a great gulf in between teams at the top and the middle.

“Everyone is giving each other a game at the moment and that was on show the other night. It was two sides going right at it.

“It was like that watching Newport and Salford, both teams we had to play as well.

“But all the time you’re learning about your opposition and other players out there and getting that information.”

McCall is still to see all of his own squad in action as the weather continues to play havoc with training schedules.

Having planned a game behind-closed-doors against Huddersfield, he saw that fall by the wayside with an early call on Monday morning.

McCall already has an eye towards the summer as he continues to evaluate the players he has at his disposal.

Compared to the group that reached Wembley three years ago, it is obviously not as strong. But he expects them to mount a challenge in the final 11 games.

He added: “You look back now at the squad from a couple of seasons ago in League One.

“You’ve got Law, Cullen, McMahon, Marshall, Billy Clarke – you could go through all the squad and they are technically really good players.

“We’ve obviously come down a level and maybe the quality is not as good as it was.

“We’ve still got some players in there who can win games for us. That’s what we’re looking to build upon.”

Zeli Ismail, Jamie Devitt, Jordan Gibson and Jermaine Anderson are yet to play competitively since McCall arrived. But the City boss has reiterated that every training session is a chance to catch his eye.

He said: “I’d had a team and formation in my mind for the Newport game driving in last Thursday.

“But then two or three performed in training to keep themselves in the side and a couple nearly played themselves out of it.

“Obviously we only made one change and that was through the physicality of getting Clayton (Donaldson) in.

“But people can jump ahead after a training session. You can think one thing and then it changes.

“Each day I’m getting a clearer picture. You work out the players you can hang your hat on, regardless of ability, and know you can trust them to go and do a job.”