ROHAN Smith praised the collective effort of his squad as the Bulls racked up their third win in eight days to go third in the Championship.

Kurt Haggerty’s 75th-minute drop goal sealed a dramatic 17-16 win over Batley and saw Bradford leapfrog John Kear’s men.

Having won at Workington and Oldham, a third straight victory put Smith’s men in a decent position ahead of Sunday’s crunch derby at home to fourth-placed Halifax.

Bulls boss Smith said: “I thought there was a lot of grit there today and a lot of people dug deep.

“I said to the dressing room at the end that it was a whole club effort this week and everyone contributed to that.

“The energy and the atmosphere amongst the injured group was outstanding and those weren’t selected trained really well.

“There has been a really good vibe and energy throughout the whole group, which was a contributing factor.

“We are in a decent position but I don’t really look at the league table – that’s for you guys to do that.

“I said to the players that there was a choice to be made today. They made the choice to dig as deep as they could and they got rewarded for it.”

Haggerty’s late heroics drew praise from Smith after he filled in at half back alongside Lewis Charnock and ultimately won the game for his team.

Smith added: “Kurt played to his strengths, particularly in the second half when he rolled the sleeves up, carried the ball hard and made a few half-breaks.

“I think he could do a really good job in the halves if given the opportunity to grow a combination and play a certain style that would suit him.

“He’s played really well in these three games and staked a claim for more game-time going further.”

St Helens loanee Charnock, meanwhile, had a hand in all three tries after playing his third game inside a week since his arrival.

“Lewis has impressed me with his attitude and his ethic towards playing the game tough and with a real sense of control,” said Smith.

“For a young kid to play three games in a week is a challenge and Batley are a big and extremely motivated side. But Lewis was very physical in defence.”

The only negative was the loss of key prop Mitch Clark to an early knee injury which saw him forced off.

He will be assessed and Smith said: “Mitch had a lower limb injury and he wasn’t able to come back.”