JOHN Kear declared his pride in defeat as the youngest Bulls side on record were beaten 50-6 at Barrow last night.

The 1895 Cup second-round clash finished in one-sided fashion after the hosts rattled up 46 unanswered points in the second half. Bradford had led 6-4 at the interval.

But Kear was pleased with the efforts of his reshuffled team, whose average age was just 20 years and six months.

“I thought they were absolutely magnificent first half,” he said. “It was only when they were fatigued and we had to put a completely young team out that they came through the other side.

“Obviously Barrow got a rocket at half-time and in the 15 minutes after that they had 10 sets and we had two. They scored three tries and the game had gone.

“It was hard for our lads to keep their heads up and we picked up two or three ankle injuries as well.

“But I’m really proud of them. I thought their effort was fantastic and the most senior fringe players led from the front.

“They certainly did themselves some good with regards to looking at Batley (on Sunday) and Leigh the week after.

“The experience will have done the young men a load of good because Barrow have got some good players.

“Congratulations to Barrow but I think we can take a great deal from that, especially when we were fresh and had our more established players out there in the first half.”