JOHN Kear says it was “absolute nonsense” to think the Bulls could go through League One undefeated.

Kear expects his side to bounce back against Coventry at Odsal tomorrow from the shock of last week’s late loss at Workington.

The second-placed Bulls are in a three-way tie at the top with leaders Doncaster, who they face later this month, and York.

And the experienced coach is not surprised that Bradford are not getting it all their own way in their first year of third-tier rugby.

Kear said: “There are fine margins in any competition. To think we’re going to come out on the right side of it week in, week out just isn’t going to happen.

“We had a fine margin against York and came out the right side, Workington had a fine margin against Whitehaven and finished on the wrong side but they came out right against us.

“That’s how it is and it evens out over a season.

“I didn’t think staying unbeaten was a goer from the start. I thought it was absolute nonsense.

“But obviously we’ve got to regroup now and improve.”

There was plenty of straight talking in the verdict from the Derwent Park defeat and Kear is looking for a far more disciplined effort against a Coventry side that the Bulls should beat comfortably.

But Workington was a warning that they can expect every opponent to produce their Sunday best.

“It’s really brought home to them that every game is a cup final,” added Kear.

“I’ve watched lots of Workington games and that’s the best they’ve played. The reason for that is because it was Bradford Bulls who came to town.

“The players are realising if we are slightly off it in a cup final, which every game is, then we’ll cop it.

“Workington are the first team to topple the unbeaten league leaders and that’s on their CV. They deserved it.

“Ryan Bailey, Sean Penkywicz and Oliver Wilkes were excellent and that’s experienced players getting excited about playing a high-standard rugby league team.”

Loan duo Ty Hitchcox and James Laithwaite come straight into the squad to face the Bears, although neither can play in the Challenge Cup at Warrington next week.

Ross Peltier misses out with a foot injury but Ethan Ryan is included after suffering from tight hamstrings.

Kear said: “I’m looking for a great deal of discipline.

“Last week was the first game when we’ve lost the penalty count and that added to them having more possession than us.

“I also didn’t think we disciplined ourselves with what we did with ball in hand and the players backed me up on that.

“I’d prefer to have been playing Doncaster this week, in all honesty.

“Obviously, the players are hurting and the way they’ll rectify that is with a performance.

“But we’re playing Coventry, that’s how the fixtures have fallen.

“It can be dangerous but we’ve got a better quality of side. That’s not me being disrespectful but honest.

“If we play to our ability we should win and we should win with a good scoreline.

“Then we can have a free hit against Warrington and then it’s a ‘grand final’ against Doncaster the following week.”

Coventry are marking their 20th year as a club and Kear, who knows coach Tom Tsang from his time working for the RFL, believes they are flying the flag in the Midlands.

“It’s a club that have put down community roots as well and that’s credit to them.

“Tom is a clever kid and a good coach. He will be fully aware of what we are capable of and I’m sure he’ll be trying his best to limit what we can do.

“But we’ve got to look beyond that and make sure our performance is a high quality one.”