Bradford Bulls 50 Warrington Wolves 22.

WOLVES are not unused to stunning fightbacks at Odsal Stadium but 32-6 at half time proved to be too much of a tall order on Friday night.

Paul Cullen's men trailed 24-8 with 50 minutes on the clock before stepping up their game in style to win at Bradford 44-24 in May 2005.

And last April, Wolves weathered an early storm before ending the 10-month unbeaten home run of the Super League and World Club Champions.

But there was to be no repeat this time because Wolves put themselves under so much pressure in the first half, when Bradford were so clinical and Wolves' defence was poor, that they lacked fuel in the tank in the late stages.

That did not stop Wolves giving the fightback their best shot, though, and they produced some brilliant off-loading football to break down Bradford's stubborn defence in the second period.

There were two further periods that played a part in Wolves failing to claw back more than the 22 points that Bradford had scored inside the first 24 minutes.

Wolves got a foothold in the game with Stuart Reardon's try against his former club in the 30th minute and Wolves were pressing again on the Bradford line when a decision went against them.

Bradford were struggling to cope when Martin Gleeson's last-tackle pass to Henry Fa'afili was touched by a Bradford hand.

Wolves regained possession but referee Steve Ganson failed to award six more tackles and the attacking threat was gone.

Paul Rauhihi was then penalised for roughing up Bradford's influential Warrington old boy Iestyn Harris and from that position Bulls were able to cross for two more tries before half time.

That left Wolves with a mountain to climb but they reached halfway thanks to tries by Chris Bridge and Toa Kohe-Love on their old stamping ground.

Wolves were revelling with the momentum in their favour and seeking more points but Logan Swann's knock on deep inside his own half turned the tide again.

Two minutes later Joe Vagana ploughed over from Paul Deacon's pinpoint pass to give Bradford an unassailable 38-16 cushion.

Wolves will have leaned that they cannot afford to cough up possession, concede penalties and leak tries - as easily as they did early on - in order to remain in the top six.

Match facts.

engage Super League XI, Round 23, August 4, 2006.

Bradford Bulls 50 Warrington Wolves 22.

Bulls: Marcus St Hilaire; Lesley Vainikolo, Shontayne Hape, Karl Pryce, Marcus Bai; Iestyn Harris, Paul Deacon; Joe Vagana, Terry Newton, Andy Lynch, Chris McKenna, Brett Ferres, Jamie Langley. Subs used: Michael Withers, Brad Meyers, Stanley Gene, Ben Harris.

Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Henry Fa'afili, Martin Gleeson, Toa Kohe-Love, Brent Grose; Lee Briers, Chris Bridge; Chris Leikvoll, Michael Sullivan, Paul Wood, Logan Swann, Mike Wainwright, Ben Westwood. Subs used: Mark Gleeson, Richie Barnett, Paul Rauhihi, Andy Bracek.

Referee: Steve Ganson.

Scoring: Wood and Leikvoll concede a penalty for holding down and Lynch crosses from his own grubber kick, 7mins, Deacon slots over the extra points, 6-0; Newton's forward pass is missed and Bai races away from halfway before sending Pryce over, 10mins, Deacon improves from wide out, 12-0; Sullivan's knock on leads to Vainikolo beating Grose to Harris' angled grubber, 15mins, 16-0; Harris cuts free and feeds Meyers for a try, 24mins, Deacon adds the extras, 22-0; Pryce is pulled up for interference at a play-the-ball and Briers sends Reardon over, 30mins, Briers hits the target, 22-6; Rauhihi is penalised for rough stuff enabling Newton to feed Gene for a try, 38mins, Deacon goals, 28-6; Harris swings the ball wide and Vainikolo puts Hape in, 40mins, 32-6; McKenna is caught roughing up Westwood and Bridge's footwork destroys McKenna providing him room to race over, 43mins, 32-10; Bridge's grubber kick hands Kohe-Love a try, 53mins, 32-16; Vagana charges through a huge hole off Deacon's pass, 56mins, Deacon kicks the bonus points, 38-16; Vainikolo drops Briers' bomb and Kohe-Love pounces to send Bridge flying in, 70mins, Briers bangs over the goal, 38-22; sloppy defence allows Newton to crash over, 73mins, Deacon adds the conversion, 44-22; Newton charges down Briers' kick and scoops up the loose ball before dashing to the line, 77mins, Deacon concludes the scoring, 50-22.

Pens: Bulls 5 Wolves 9.

Scrums: Bulls 1 Wolves 2.

Attendance: 11,469.

Warrington Guardian top men: Paul Wood 3pts, Stuart Reardon 2pts, Ben Westwood 1pt.

Interesting note: Wolves' widest margin of defeat in a Super League game since the 42-10 defeat against Salford at The Willows on Good Friday last year.