BULLS centre Ashley Gibson believes the side have learnt a valuable lesson from their 24-16 win over Oldham.

After holding York to within four points, Oldham posed a real threat for the Bulls. However, a strong first-half effort carried the Bradford boys through to victory.

Gibson spoke of the side’s indifferent display in the second half – insisting that the line-up will need to perform better in order to achieve their goals this season.

“It was a game of two halves. The first half was really good and we stuck in the arm wrestle. They’re a tough team so we can take some credit there.

“It was clear there wasn’t going to be a huge score. They’re a great defensive team but we just managed to get a roll on and take over in the first half.

“In the second half I’m not sure what happened – we seemed to lose our concentration. We started to give away penalties and make errors, and it wasn’t good enough.

“We just ended up shooting ourselves in the foot and defending our own line for the majority of the half. That’s something we need to fix.

“At the end of the day if someone offered us that score before the match I’d have taken it, Oldham is a tough place to go, the atmosphere is right in your face and they don’t often lose by much.

“It’s all about learning from the game now, looking at how we started and trying to replicate that for the full 80 minutes.”

Bulls face Hemel Stags in their final game of the regular season before, most likely, embarking on their play-off journey in a bid for promotion to the Championship.

Gibson insists that securing the win against a tough Oldham side will spur the players on throughout the play-offs and give them the mentality to succeed.

Having recently signed a one-year contract extension, he also commented on his excitement ahead of the 2019 campaign.

“Hemel is our first shot at fixing up that second half performance, so our first task is to start there and then take it forward from there,” Gibson remarked.

“We know what lies ahead, we can take confidence from the Oldham game and there are always lessons that help you improve – that’s the mentality we need to take into the play-offs.

“Our levels have been up and down a bit this season, I think we’re building the right way we just need to play the small percentages, cut out the errors and not give anyone a leg up.

“It was great to add another year (to my contract). This season has been great and with the quality of players we will have at the club, it should be a real good time for everyone involved with Bradford.”