More misery for Bulls

Bradford's woes have continued with an 18-10 defeat at the hands of in-form Salford at The Willows.

The Bulls had the dubious honour of being the Celtic Crusaders' first ever Super League scalp last weekend and they appeared to be still suffering five days on.

They led 4-0 at half-time but found themselves trailing midway through the second period when Stuart Littler scored for the Reds.

With Richard Myler - recently named in the England elite squad - inspiring the home side, further scores then came from Mark Henry and Luke Adamson.

Missing Semi Tadulala after he failed a fitness test on his hamstring, Bradford made a promising enough start, with Salford's defence breached twice in one set of six.

Centre Willie Talau was denied on the last tackle before Dave Halley almost crossed in the eighth minute - superb Salford tackling in the corner denying both the winger and Chris Nero on the follow-up.

The Bulls were unable to capitalise on their early possession though and as anxiety crept in, so did a number of unforced errors.

The most glaring came courtesy of Michael Worrincy, who spilled the ball crossing the line after the outstretched hand of an advancing Reds defender gifted him the chance.

Even so, Bradford kept pressing and their reward came on 27 minutes when centre Paul Sykes pounced on Paul Deacon's kick through - the scrum-half albeit missing the conversion.

Salford could have responded after replacement Henry Paul broke clear in the closing stages of the first period.

But, as he looked to find the telling pass to the advancing Phil Leuluai, referee Phil Bentham instead got in the way.

Frustration

There was then frustration for Bradford as, stretching for the line after showing a clever dummy, Julien Rinaldi spilled the ball.

Taking a narrow lead into the interval, the Bulls went close again six minutes into the second half but prop Andy Lynch was adjudged to have been held up over the line.

Salford then looked to have scored a certain try at the other end - Myler looking favourite to gather a Reds kick before Michael Platt clipped his ankles.

Myler was not to be denied, however, and he took on the defensive line again before a lovely inside pass sent Littler over to level the scores in the 54th minute.

John Wilshere converted to hand the Reds the lead and, on the hour mark, they scored again when Adamson took advantage of Steve Menzies' misdirected offload.

The second row took two defenders out of the game before finding Henry, who sprinted the length of the field and stepped past Platt on his way to the line.

And a third try arrived when Myler set up Adamson, with Wilshere then making it three out of three with the boot.

The visitors gave themselves a chance with 10 minutes to go following a left-to-right move which ended with Sykes sprinting over.

Deacon further reduced the deficit with a successful conversion but Salford held firm to take the points.