JOHN Kear was delighted with the performance from all his 29-man squad in Bulls’ 6-4 victory over York City Knights at the Tetley’s Stadium.

The two sides were forced off early due to a lighting issue with the match getting lively after Connor Robinson was sent off and Ben Johnston gained a place in the sin bin with less than 10 minutes to go.

Despite the late events, Bradford showed that they have a strong squad going into the 2020 Betfred Championship campaign which starts next week against London Broncos.

Kear was disappointed with the lack of light in their new home and was unsure what really happened with the sending-off.

He chuckled: “We won on the Duckworth Lewis system* with the bad light. There has been some problem with the grid over the road.

“Half the floodlights were out which made it a bit murky and with the lights out in the York dressing room, I was really disappointed.

“It was one red and one yellow meaning they finished the game with 11 men.

“The players are saying it was for striking, it was in the far distance, so you have to accept what the players said

“It was more about the performance which will make next week a real tough call, it has been a good day.”

Bulls looked a different side from the one convincingly beaten last time out against Dewsbury Rams.

Kear was proud of his young players facing a side many fancy to finish in the playoffs this term and thinks a few of them might have caused a selection headache for the Broncos opener.

He said: “It was a real flip from last week we asked for a positive reaction from the players in regards to their effort and desire, we certainly got that in both halves.

“First half we got a tight game which we expect from York who always compete high, we stood toe to toe scoring that try. The young men were first class second half with their last-ditch tackles.

“They have made me consider it, there were some strong performances from the youngsters.”

* The Duckworth Lewis system is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances, devised by statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.