BRADFORD Bulls head coach John Kear was critical of the "party bus" atmosphere as his side travelled to Coventry on Saturday and he felt that may have been contributed to their sloppy handling throughout the contest.

Bulls recovered well from a slow start in the first half to bag eight tries after the break, and although Kear gave his side credit for turning things around, there were certain aspects of the performance that left him underwhelmed.

The visitors were constantly guilty of handling errors during their 62-12 win, making nine in the first half alone and Kear said: "It was terrible at times and we only completed eight out of 18 sets before the break, which is below 50%.

"They were soft individual handling errors, and the players have admitted that. But if you make them, you put yourself under pressure.

"What you have to do is be tidy and more focused and concentrate fully so that doesn't happen. Because they've got the skill level not to make these mistakes.

Kear felt the scoreline was generous in the Bulls' favour, saying: "I think it did flatter us, but you have to admire the finishing skills of some of our players.

"I think there were three players who were magnificent and dragged the rest through. The other 14 need to have a good look at themselves in training when we go through the videos.

"One or two weren't good enough and there'll be changes next week. They've made my job pretty easy for the Newcastle match because I can nail reasons why those players haven't got a Bulls shirt on for that game."

Elliot Minchella was one of those exempt from criticism after his hat-trick and Kear enthused: "He is consistently outstanding and if we had 17 players like him, I'd be a very happy man.

"But as for the rest of them, we can't draw a line in the sand yet. We'll review this performance from a team and individual perspective but we have to do it quickly because we've got that huge challenge against Newcastle at home on Friday.

"They're a good rugby league team and we'll have to be a lot better than we were in the first half here."

Matt Garside and Steve Crossley were absent from the Coventry clash, but Kear explained their non-selection was for tactical reasons.

He laughed: "Matt has been putting 80 minutes in regularly so we decided he could have a weekend off to put his feet up and have a brandy and cigar.

"Steve wanted to come down and he rivalled Elliot for man of the match because he went out there as water-carrier and tore a strip off one or two of them when they were playing badly.

"We're hoping George Flanagan will be back for the Newcastle game and Gregg McNally will be another week nearer. Once we get them back we'll feel a lot more comfortable."

Bulls have won 10 Betfred League One games in a row, but Kear insisted his side won't be distracted by their impressive statistics and other clubs giving them extra attention.

He said: "We have enough focus on us anyway. All we're trying to do is tick games off one at a time and we did that here against Coventry eventually. We've got a really tough challenge against Newcastle next up and we'll be looking no further than that."

Kear's side take on their north-east opponents on Friday night, with a 7:45pm kick off. The game will be preceded by their two Under-19 teams going head-to-head at Odsal at 5:30pm.