BRADFORD Bulls are right back in the Betfred Championship play-off picture after a nerve-wracking 24-20 home win over bogey derby opponents Halifax.

That result against a team that have won eight of their last 10 matches against the Bulls, coupled with Barrow Raiders’ shock win over Featherstone Rovers, sees John Kear’s team only two points off the top five.

A delighted Kear said of the Halifax clash: “Games are often touted as must-win games and this was a must-win game because if you lose this you get distanced from that top five and if you win it you are still in and among it.

“Featherstone have lost to Barrow so this win means more than I thought before as we are only two points outside the top five.”

However the derby changed complexion after the second-half sin-binning of George Flanagan for a trip, with Halifax scoring two tries in three minutes and almost snatching victory.

Kear said: “The first 55 minutes were really good and we were in control – if we play like that for the rest of the season I will be delighted and we won’t be far away - and then we did our best to lose the game.

“There is a bloke that gets sin-binned and we concede five penalties in a row and you are just stressed defensively throughout but minutes 55 to 80 was about the will not the skill to bring the game home.

“We showed great skill and desire and we were deserved winners.

“We scored some great tries and it was a win that we needed. We got it but we still have things to work on.

“Last week we got 50 points put on us but we had Connor Farrell, Jy Hitchcox, Joe Keyes, Jake Webster back.

“We were a completely different team and a better team and you saw the composure and maturity of Joe and Jordan (Lilley) at half-back closing the game out.

“We still have Rhys Evans to come back, James Green to come back so we can get even better as the season goes on and we have been playing against pretty much full-strength teams.

"For example, Halifax only had one or two missing and we have had six, seven or eight missing so credit to us that we have got through that.”

Kear added: “The 10 minutes when George got sin-binned we had seven plays.

“The rest of the time Halifax had the ball and it was like a defensive drill that we do in training with a 12-man defence against a full team.

“We conceded tries during that ten minutes, which was understandable but not acceptable, but we closed the game out.

“We cannot give teams like Halifax a run of five penalties on the bounce and we can’t get men sin-binned.

“I cannot understand what was going on in George’s head.”