JOHN Kear was thrilled to welcome back Bulls fans with their best display of the season.

Around 300 travelling supporters savoured today's 33-8 win at London – their fifth on the bounce.

Kear had described the trip to the capital as a big test of the play-off ambitions against one of their full-time rivals – and was delighted with the response.

“They passed the test with flying colours,” he said. They played some really good rugby league both with ball in hand and – more importantly for me – the defensive effort.

“The defence in the second half was magnificent. They were camped on our line a lot and sometimes they broke our structure down but one mate would cover for another.

“They worked so hard as a group. I’m absolutely delighted in their effort and the standard showed.”

The Bulls fell behind early but had taken charge by the interval with tries from Aaron Murphy, his first for the club, Thomas Doyle and Brandon Pickersgill - two homegrown products just days after the academy application was rejected.

On-loan Warrington forward Ellis Robson went over for a double in the second half – when London failed to score a single point.

Kear added: “That’s our best 80 minutes no doubt. “We’ve shown glimpses in other games but also fallen off the horse at times.

“The first 10 minutes probably went London’s way and they came away with their score.

“But I thought we controlled the game after that – we had some smart players out there as well as some tough hard-working ones as well.

“Right at the end we were 33-8 up and it’s the easiest thing to think a score doesn’t matter. But you want to build into your culture that it does and I think they demonstrated that.”

Kear felt the Bulls fans played their part in the first game played in front of a crowd since the Challenge Cup defeat at Wakefield in March last year.

“I thought they provided so much energy. That transferred itself on to the pitch.

“I’ve really enjoyed every minute of this day and so have the players.

“It lifts them. At times when you’re absolutely goosed and fatigued, you hear that noise behind you and it allows you to play through that.

“I think that has been demonstrated on several occasions.”

The Bulls picked up a couple of casualties with Danny Brough, who had a 100 per cent record with the boot, forced off with some discomfort in his groin after taking his last kick.

Kear was hopeful they had caught that in time – and that Ben Evans, who rolled his ankle, will recover in time for next Sunday’s home clash with York.

Kear added: “We’ve only got London once this season and when I saw it was away I thought it was a pretty tough card to be dealt. But we’ve come away with the two points and I’m absolutely delighted.

“We’ve come down here, which is tough in itself, and all the logistical stuff off the field has gone absolutely bang on smooth and because of that they’ve prepared well and given a great performance.

“They’ve had confidence all the way through. We’re now on a five-game winning run and we just need to keep knocking those out and progressing as a team.”