LEIGH Beattie believes the Bulls set standards for the rest of the season against Hull KR as they look to defy the odds and avoid relegation.

In Saturday’s Summer Bash showdown against the Championship leaders at a rain-soaked Bloomfield Road, Bradford produced their best performance of the year so far.

The agonising 20-19 defeat left them on minus two points and facing a mountainous task to climb out of the bottom two but Beattie could not hide his pride afterwards.

Inspired by new signing Dane Chisholm on his first appearance since rejoining the club from Sheffield Eagles, Bradford fought tooth and nail against the Robins from start to finish before slipping to a sixth straight defeat.

Chisholm captained the side and scored a brilliant long-range try in the second half before succumbing to a knee injury which Beattie hopes will not keep him out of Sunday’s crunch trip to relegation rivals Dewsbury.

Interim head coach Beattie, still technically in charge while Toovey’s visa application drags on, said: “Yes, we’ve had a few rough weeks and had a few points put on us.

“But we trained very well last week, worked on things and spoke about we needed to do.

“Chissy came in and added some enthusiasm, but to be fair all the lads were well up for it.

“We’ve worked hard on our ruck control and our markers because Shaun Lunt is a class player and we knew that was where they were going to come at us. But I thought we dealt with that pretty well.

“It’s about consistency for us and we haven’t shown it this year.

“I’ve spoken about us making back-to-back errors and our heads going down – but we didn’t do that on Saturday.

“When we made errors, we got straight back on it and I thought we defended well, got back into the game and the arm wrestle.

“I know everyone has been frustrated over the last few weeks, but the fans have supported us through thick and thin.

“We spoke about that too because it’s about everyone doing it together as a club – players, coaches, fans and everyone involved.

“We need to keep working hard and rallying around.

“Might this be the turning point in our season? It could be. I thought the lads were outstanding and showed real determination and grit.

“I thought we more than matched a very good side.

“We know we can do it – we’ve proved we can do it – it’s just about consistency now.

“If we play like that every week, we should be alright. Hopefully.”

Beattie was not impressed by the performance of referee Tom Grant and accused the officials of making several “shocking calls” against the Bulls.

He will now await the prognosis on playmaker Chisholm, who set the tone for the Bulls’ overall performance with his energy, running and desire.