JOHN Kear applauded York for clinching promotion as he plots the Bulls’ play-off campaign to join them in the Championship.

The Bulls eased past Hemel 52-7 in their final League One game at Odsal yesterday.

But York’s win over Whitehaven – their 15th in a row – ensured the Knights secured League One’s top spot.

Bradford now face a play-off semi-final at home to Oldham on Sunday – something that Kear had been expecting.

He said: “I thought York would win so I didn’t come pinning my hopes on that.

“I came to prepare for a play-off series and hopefully we’ve got two games in that.

“I’d like to congratulate York. If you’d said to me at the beginning of the season that you’re only going to lose three games, your points difference is going to be what it is, I thought we’d be walking away with the title.

“It just shows what a stellar season that York have had. They should be congratulated on that.

“It’s a club that is progressing and going forward. James Ford and his players need congratulating.”

Kear confirmed that there was a social-media black-out in the changing room at half-time to ensure the players were not distracted by events at Bootham Crescent.

“I wouldn’t let them look at the phones or anything,” he said. “Once you start that, your head goes all over the shop.

“You’ve got a game of rugby league to play. It doesn’t matter what York are doing when there’s a big bloke carrying the ball at you.”

Kear made eight changes for the Bulls and he was happy with their 10-try display – particularly youngsters Matty Storton, who has now scored four tries in three appearances, and debutant Olly Wilson.

The Bulls coach added: “I thought we played some good rugby and defended well for the majority of the time. It was a decent performance.

“There were some good individuals out there. Anyone who has seen how Matty Storton is developing, he is really exciting.

“He gets better every game and he plays and I thought Olly Wilson had a fair old shift of 45 minutes. He’s a year-two academy (scholar) and didn’t look out of place whatsoever.

“It’s really pleasing and demonstrates what good shape we are in as a club.

“There wasn’t a frantic nature about us. There was an element of control.

“We’ve certainly taken a step forward from the second half against Oldham.

“We’ve tidied some things up and some men who’ve come into the team have made me scratch my head.

“We had a tidy little work-out again in defence and apart from the very last game of the game, we handled it pretty well.”

Brandon Pickersgill (shin) and Matty Garside (hand) both came off as precautions but Kear has no fresh injury concerns to worry about.

He said: “We’ve looked after them so hopefully we’ve got a very fit squad to choose from next week.”