JOHN Kear hailed Brandon Pickersgill after the youngster stepped in at the last minute for the injured Gregg McNally and played a key role in Bulls' win over London Skolars.

Pickersgill was not originally in the match-day squad but McNally hurt his ankle in the warm-up.

The 21-year-old academy product came in and helped Bulls to a 58-12 win, claiming one of their 11 tries, which got their League One title bid back on track.

Loanees Tuoyo Egodo and James Green, Dane Chisholm and Ethan Ryan, who scored another hat-trick, produced stand-out performances but coach Kear felt Pickersgill's professionalism earned him top billing.

He said: "Brandon was the man of the match because he travelled down on the bus and warmed up but as far as he was concerned, he was going to be sat at the side with me watching the game.

"But ten minutes before kick-off he is called into play and he just didn’t blink an eyelid and gave a real high-quality performance."

The utility back, who spent a brief spell on loan at Skolars last year, continues to impress during a season in which he has been a model of consistency.

He was happy to step up for McNally having prepared as he always does.

Pickersgill said: "On Friday night I just had my usual game-day routine so I was quite thankful that I did that. John says you’ve always got to be ready to play.

"I’ve been 18th and 19th man before and it’s never happened, so I’m just thankful that I prepared as I usually do, so it didn’t faze me.

"As soon as Gregg rolled his ankle and John gave me the nod, I was ready to go.

"It wasn’t that hard. Once I knew I was playing I just had to get my mind on the game and I was sweet."

Bulls heeded Kear's call to start much quicker than in their defeat to York and they raced into a 14-0 lead despite playing into a strong wind.

Though Skolars came back into the match, Bradford led 20-6 at the break and stepped up the pace in the second half with seven more tries to improve what could be a crucial points difference.

Though he didn't get on the scoresheet, centre Egodo enjoyed a fine debut having joined on loan from Castleford two days earlier.

He produced a superb break from his own half which deserved a try and set up Ryan's second try with an inventive kick.

Born and bred down the road in Tottenham, Egodo said: "London Skolars has a place in my heart. I started my rugby league career here so it was good to come down here and see a few old faces.

"The debut in general was good. We’ve won the game and we couldn’t expect more than that – we’re going for eight (wins) from eight and we got that ticked off.

"I was pleased (with my display) but there is always stuff you can improve. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get over."

Pickersgill added: "'T' was real strong. He was quite hard to handle and was a go-to player for us."