JOHN Kear insists his side face a considerable threat on Sunday as an in-form Batley Bulldogs side travel to Odsal Stadium on the back of three successive wins.

Victories over Dewsbury Rams, Halifax and Rochdale Hornets have seen Matt Diskin’s team storm up the Betfred Championship ladder in recent weeks.

The Bulls go into the clash on the back of three league defeats and are currently sat on 16 points, just two points off a play-off position.

Admitting every game is now a ‘four-pointer’, the Bradford boss believes his side will improve as the season goes on.

“Batley are a very good team as Halifax found out the other week. They went there and got beaten by a quality side playing some quality rugby,” said Kear.

“They had a comprehensive victory in the 1895 Cup too so they will be feeling good about themselves.

“We have had three league defeats on the spin and we need to address that pretty soon as we need to be challenging for that top five.

“All the games now are four-pointers and if you look at the fixtures left every team will be taking points off each other – it is a great competition.

“Batley are on a bit of form and looking to sneak into those play-off places but we have an opportunity to do something about it on Sunday.

“The workload is going to be more manageable from here on in and I am convinced the quality of our work will improve too.”

Bulls edged to a 16-6 win at Batley back in March.