WOLVES slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season with a dismal performance against an untouchable Bradford.

A purposeful early effort wilted in the afternoon sun as the Bulls broke loose to stampede over the weary Wolves in a nine-try showpiece.

Darryl Van de Velde's men entered Odsal stadium without the services of captain Simon Gillies, key prop Gary Chambers and full back Lee Penny and struggled to paint over the cracks as the week's other tough encounters against Wigan and Wakefield clearly took their toll.

One of the only positives to come out of the game was the performance of Alan Hunte, filling in for Penny, who finally showed the form he is obviously capable of for the full 80 minutes.

His safe hands and sound tackling at the back were at times the only blockade against an even greater humiliation.

Warrington started the game with great vigour and enthusiasm as Mark Forster broke down the left wing in the first minute and caused problems for full back Stuart Spruce with an inventive chip over the top.

Scott Wilson kept the momentum going five minutes later when he broke clear of a high tackle to scamper towards the line and was held agonisingly short.

Bradford finally broke out of their own half and were rewarded with an easy two points from captain Steve McNamara when Danny Nutley gave away a needless penalty for interference at the play-the-ball.

The first try also went to the home side on 16 minutes when Warren Jowitt bounced out of a Jon Roper tackle to crash over from short range.

Winger Leon Price extended the lead soon after by stealing the ball from Dean Hanger on the first tackle and racing unchallenged to the line.

Warrington retaliated well to begin with and Lee Briers was unlucky not to set Danny Farrar over with a round-the-corner pass which sadly proved too predictable.

Then Hunte recovered a kick to race 60 metres on a wonderful arcing run to the line which exposed a stationary Bulls defence and sensationally brought his side back into contention.

But again further territorial pressure went unconverted and when Brian McDermott barged his way over from one metre out to give Bradford a 14-point cushion at half-time, the writing was on the wall.

The home side proceeded to kill off the game with a barnstorming opening 10 minutes of the second period, starting in the very first minute when McDermott powered over again.

With everything seeming to go against them, Wolves went further behind three minutes later when a failed ball inside from James Lowes bounced off a Warrington player and straight into the arms of Price, who outpaced Jason Roach on a sprint to the line.

And McDermott completed a quickfire hat-trick with another short range effort set up by a destructive 60-metre dash from attacking dynamo Henry Paul.

David Boyle chanced his arm with a jinking run to the line and as he was finally brought to a halt he flicked a pass inside to set up an easy try for the supporting Stuart Spruce.

Farrar and Warren Stevens were no match for a rampaging Paul Anderson as he charged over to bring up the 50 points, and the rout was completed when Lowes barged straight over the top of Scott Wilson.

Wolves continued to search for a second try, with wingers Hanger and Roach both forced into touch as they strode towards the corner flag.

But too many handling errors and wasted field position had already ensured a quiet coach journey back over the Pennines.

Now they must pick themselves up immediately for the tough game against a resurgent London Broncos side or hopes of that elusive fifth place could start to slide away.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.