I saw the team sheet on Twitter in the car on the way there and got very worried we were off to watch an absolute thrashing.

What followed was a a nice surprise and filled me with optimism for the season.

Peltier, Magrin, Roche were very impressive in the forwards. Kirk was also very good in the first half and did some big minutes.

Campbell was the best surprise of the day for me. I was never impressed with him in his few appearances last season but today he was very lively in attack and made a few nice breaks. He was pretty solid in defence and made a very good last line of defence tackle in the first half. Given a run in the team he could prove to be a good full back for the level we are at.

Of the young lads Bentley looked solid, Butterworth and Pickersgill (was it him playing in the halves with Keyes?) were also great.

Ross Oakes has impressed me every time I've seen him so far. Makes all the right decisions in defence, seems very strong and is also pretty dangerous in attack. Him and Ryan could form a good centre/wing partnership given some time together.

Agree with some of the previous posts that we need one or two more seasoned campaigners in the pack as the young lads wont be able to do that every week. Hope Joseph signs and one or two others.

Pryce and Keyes is going to be a good partnership I think.

Did Leon not play?

No, not sure why.

Knee injury mentioned in match report. Hopefully just a niggle

I think Oakes could be in for a big season. He looked classy in the u19s games I saw last year and he did well in the first team games he played in at the back end of last season as well.

Hoping for news on Joseph and Foster this week. We really need those two to stay.

The fact we had no number 6 on the park when we weren't in squad numbers suggested that Leon was probably down to play originally but not risked. He ended up as on-field trainer.

Got to be just a niggle, he was doing plenty of running on and off the field.

One thing that stood out yesterday to me is the team wanted to play, they wanted the game stuck up for each other and dug in which I haven't seen for a fair while in a Bradford performance,
Not the most skillful of performances but very positive, Bring Toovey into the mix and a handful of signings and we are in business.

Thought Peltier, Roche and Campbell were stand out performers.

Add Jon Magrin too. Was very impressed with him. Was impressed with the young lad Matty English from Huddersfield too until Magrin steamrolled him near the end and English wasn't sure what planet he was on for a brief moment.

You're right about the effort though. It's the most grit, effort and determination I've seen a Bradford side put in for ages, and it was essentially a friendly. That was something really missing last season, and perhaps what comes with playing young hungry lads trying to push for a regular spot.

From what I've heard of Tooveys coaching style he will have the lads
Working as hard as possible for him and each other..

We need a bit of direction plus a few more additions and I think we should be very competitive.

I walked out pleasently surprised and upbeat yesterday again that hasn't happened in a while.

I was struck by how the team stuck up for each other during the periods of aggro. In the past our reaction to foul play has been quite limp wristed. Yesterday it was a different matter. The ordeal of the past 3 months seems to have brought them together more.