Henry can't hold up Bulls
Salford winger Mark Henry grabbed a hat-trick of tries but his side still suffered a 28-14 reverse away at Bradford.
Last Updated: 29/05/11 5:24pm
Bradford clinched their first Super League win in seven matches with a 28-14 triumph over Salford at Odsal Stadium on Sunday.
Half-back Kyle Briggs grabbed two of the home side's five tries as they comfortably saw off the Reds to leapfrog their opponents in the table.
Winger Mark Henry did bag a hat-trick of tries for the visitors but it wasn't enough to stop his team slipping to a fourth defeat in five league outings.
They had won the reverse fixture 56-16 at the Willows earlier this year but were always struggling on their travels once faced with a 22-4 half-time deficit.
Stiff breeze
Aided by a stiff breeze, Bradford needed just five minutes to break the deadlock as scrum-half Briggs was on hand to accept full-back Shad Royston's offload and score his first of the afternoon.
A superb pass from centre Sean Gleeson got Henry over for his first try but that was to be a rare moment of success for Salford in the first period.
The Bulls seized control with three tries in the final 10 minutes of the opening half, the first of them coming when Ben Jeffries' cut-out pass put Paul Sykes in untouched at the corner.
Hooker Heath L'Estrange then burrowed his way over from dummy half and when prop Craig Kopczak broke through the initial line of defence to set up a score for the impressive Jeffries, the hosts were in complete command.
It could have got even worse for Salford at the start of the second half but prop Tom Burgess lost control of the ball in the act of reaching for the line.
Boosted by the let-off, the Reds went on to threaten a second-half comeback with two tries in the space of four minutes around the hour mark.
Treble success
Skipper Daniel Holdsworth combined with Luke Patten to get Henry over for his second try and the Australian then accepted Gleeson's pass soon after to complete his personal treble.
Holdsworth finally proved successful with a conversion attempt at the third time of asking to make the score 22-14 with 17 minutes remaining.
However Bradford calmed any nerves when half-back pairing Jeffries and Briggs combined and latter jinked through for his second try.
Winger Patrick Ah Van added the extras, his fourth successful kick from five attempts, as the Bulls finally enjoyed that winning feeling again in league action.
As for Salford, the reverse means they slip into the bottom four ahead of a week that is set to see Australian Peter Gentle appointed as their new coach.
