JOHN Kear believes the Bulls will relish their victories this season – because they’ll have to work harder for them.

The Yorkshire Cup friendlies are building up the anticipation for the club’s return to the Championship on February 3.

Kear’s side have two more warm-up outings to play at Batley in the final on Sunday and then next Friday’s trans-Atlantic challenge clash with Toronto at Odsal.

The experienced coach can sense the buzz as the campaign’s curtain-raiser against Featherstone is fast approaching.

And he reckons the hard-fought wins so far in pre-season have given the squad an insight into the script to come – with no non-events like many of their one-sided romps in League One.

Kear said: “There were times last year when we had a stop-start game that we’d won by 50 points. You came away afterwards feeling dissatisfied.

“When you’ve won by 50 points, you shouldn’t be doing that.

“I think now, when you win a game, you have to enjoy it. They won’t be as plentiful and perhaps as easy as they have been previously.

“The players are bound to enjoy it more when they win because it will be hard-earned. That’s what makes it more enjoyable."

The Bulls eased past the half-century mark in half of their fixtures in the third tier. But the warm-up skirmishes with York, Halifax and Dewsbury have shown how tight many games are likely to be this season - something Kear is excited about.

“Any sporting person wants to play or coach at a higher level," he added.

“You want to test yourself at the best level you possibly can. The higher level we can play as a club, the more welcome it will be.

“It will be a test but we’ll relish any testing of us.

“I always say Test matches are called that because they test everything about you – and I’m sure the Championship will do that week in, week out for Bradford.”