Bradford Bulls 36

Warrington Wolves 8

By PHIL HOWARTH

TWO outstanding tries from winger Jason Roach were the only highlights in an otherwise bleak night for Warrington at Odsal.

The Bradford faithful roared their team on in the hunt for the final play-off place as the Bulls won the day through guts rather than panache.

It could have been a different story, however, as Mike Pechey, Mark Forster and Mike Eagar all knocked on when the try line was beckoning in the first 15 minutes.

The Bulls were not so profligate with their chances and raced into an 18-0 lead after 22 minutes to effectively kill the game off as a contest.

Warrington also had to contend with further problems in the half back area with Danny Farrar forced off with an ankle injury and Lee Briers ending the 80 minutes struggling along on the wing.

Bradford struck first with a second minute penalty from Steve McNamara after Brendon Tuuta was caught holding down in the tackle.

Warrington then wasted a glorious chance when Eagar grabbed the loose ball and raced 60 metres only to fail to find the off-load.

Eagar and Pechey then squandered gilt-edged opportunities through sloppy handling before full back Stuart Spruce showed terrific pace to charge home from Graeme Bradley's pass after seven minutes.

Forster was sent racing away by a cross field kick from Briers but failed to get hold of the ball and another chance was wasted.

The Bulls' second try resulted from some superb handling by hooker James Lowes as he combined with Neil Harmon before sending Abi Ekoku through. McNamara goaled.

New boy Harvey Howard shrugged off two tackles to send Lowes gliding home for the next try. McNamara's kicking was good once more.

Roach managed to push Jon Scales into touch as the winger pressed the Warrington line and Odsal was now in full song.

The home fans had more to celebrate when Lowes scored his second try on 35 minutes that left the half-time scoreline at 22-0.

Ian Knott replaced Farrar at the break but Warrington bounced back to score a fine try a minute into the half.

Tuuta's long pass found Roach with the space to step round his marker and race home from the halfway line with Spruce in desperate pursuit. Briers missed the conversion.

McNamara kicked a penalty for Bradford after Tuuta had again been penalised for holding down.

Referee Steve Ganson struggled to keep the game under control as tempers flaired and Briers was even knocked cold for a brief period.

Roach provided another fine moment when he was put into the gap by Gary Chambers and sprinted home from 50 metres.

Briers missed his touchline conversion effort.

The score remained the same until the last 10 minutes when Briers was reduced to defensive duties on the wing as he struggled from the knocks he had taken.

Robbie Paul came on as substitute and set about making a convincing case for coach Matthew Elliott not to drop him to the bench again.

He steamed home five minutes from the end after another fine run from Lowes had opened the gap and then set up Bradley for the final try just before the whistle. McNamara converted both.

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