JOHN Kear has tasked his Bradford Bulls side to look at the "man in the mirror" after their worst performance of the season.

The Odsal outfit suffered a 52-20 battering at the hands of Leigh Centurions in a trip across the Pennines.

Bulls were missing several key players for the promotion chase four-pointer, with last week's stand-out performer Jake Webster having to pull out late on with illness.

The ever-present Connor Farrell also had to drop out for the first time in the league this season, succumbing to the dead leg he picked up in the win against Batley.

But Kear said Bulls need to look for reasons, not excuses, for their loss.

He added: "It's no good everybody sitting in the dressing room feeling sorry for themselves.

"Because it is us, as the performance coaching staff, and them, as the playing staff, who've been out there and served that up.

"We've got to look at ourselves first.

"That Michael Jackson song's pretty apt for this, it's the man in the mirror and we need to look at the man in the mirror."

Despite the result, the Bulls did create several clear-cut opportunities and were in the game for much of the match.

The visitors also forced three goal-line drop-outs as well as a couple of repeat sets.

But Kear asserts there were few positives, if any, to take from the game.

He said: "Let's look at the 80 minutes, let's look at the performance and let's look at the scoreboard.

"We're clutching at straws with that.

"We've got to look at this. There's 90 per cent more negatives than positives.

"That's how it is. That's the plain truth.

"So what we've got to do is rectify it for next week, or else we're in a bit of bother."

The loss sees Bulls drift further away from an all-important play-off spot.

This is ahead of a tough run of fixtures which continues with yet another game against Halifax on Sunday, who have bettered their local rivals twice in three fixtures so far this season.

Kear admits they won't be looking towards that clash until the demons of Leigh were exorcised and that it would be a week of soul-searching.

He added: "We've got to be honest enough to look back at this and to start pointing some fingers at each other.

"Because if we don't feel it's right, it needs fixing.

"Anyone who's left out from this game, my word, they've no reason to complain whatsoever.

"If there's some changes after this, there's no reason for any of these players to complain because I feel sorry for the people who've travelled over here.

"It just wasn't good enough."