Bradford Bulls: John Kear happy with defence but ball-in-hand work must improve

Two tries in a two-minute burst late on from Steve Crossley and Dalton Grant earned a 12-6 win over Championship side Sheffield at Odsal.

Kear praised his team's defensive effort but knows they must do a lot better in possession.

"We had the ball 18 times and got to the kick eight, so over 50 per cent of the time we were giving the opposition the ball," he said.

"A number of times we were giving it away in our half. We also gave fourth- and fifth-tackle penalties away.

"So that was the reason we were stuck on our line doing all the defence. Thankfully they executed that part of it very well indeed. That kept them in the game.

"Ultimately in the end we managed to break them but ball in hand we have a lot of work to do."

Former Bulls player Oscar Thomas gave Sheffield a half-time lead with a breakaway try but the Championship side were denied any further scores by some resolute tackling.

Kear said: "It's another learning process and another step forward. The psyche of the group is improving all the time.

"They know if they defend well and work hard, they are going to have a chance no matter what you do with the ball in hand. That's a great lesson to take on board.

"We weren't fluent. I don't think it helps with two makeshift half-backs and one of them got injured.

"The youngster Rowan Milnes had to go on but I thought he did okay when he went out there."

Captain Lee Smith went off early in the second half after taking a whack but Kear said it was nothing serious.

The Bradford coach said: "He stayed down but he's all right. Lee got a belt – he plays rugby league, that's what you do.

"I've learned a lot about the players and I think they've learned a lot about themselves. There's lots for us to do to progress to go forward.

"We didn't help ourselves by not playing the sets through. The basic principles of rugby league that we've been harping on about the last few weeks really came to fruition."