Bulls hold off Wildcats

The improving Bradford Bulls held off a strong second-half comeback from Wakefield Wildcats to earn a 32-16 Magic Weekend victory at Murrayfield.

Bradford showed both explosive and penetrating attacking play along with sturdy defence to earn back-to-back Super League victories to keep them moving back into play-off contention after a shocking start to the season.

Paul Sykes ran in two tries while Steve Menzies and Terry Newton also scored as the Bulls deservedly led 20-6 at half-time and looked well in control -Jason Demetriou replying for Wakefield.

But John Kear's men came out fired up after the break though and dominated the second period in terms of possession and territory, although they came up against some stubborn defence until Steve Snitch and Matt Blaymire's tries reduced the gap to just four points.

Bradford responded late on though and Michael Worrincy's score six minutes from time killed off the fightback, while Sykes' hat-trick try made the scoreline look a lot easier for the Bulls than the actual game proved.

Sykes opener

Bradford got the opening try after just seven minutes when Sykes bagged his first - coming in the right corner after fine passes from Menzies and Ben Jeffries.

Richard Moore looked to have answered for Wakefield four minutes later when he muscled his way over the Bradford line, but Nick Scruton had done well to get underneath the ball and prevent the grounding.

The Bulls rubbed it in when they marched right down the other end straight away, and Newton eventually touched down under the posts after Paul Deacon had sent Jamie Langley bursting through.

Again the Wildcats were denied a try by video referee Richard Silverwood when Danny Brough scampered through to score, only for Danny Sculthorpe to be penalised for obstruction after the review.

Wakefield finally got on the board just before the half hour when Demetriou took a short pass and muscled his way over despite the presence of two Bradford tacklers, and Brough's kick made it 10-6.

Bradford continued their attacking intent and Sykes went in again in the corner, before Menzies started and finished the best try of the match ten minutes before time - as he got on the end of a move involving a powerful Rikki Sheriffe break and Sykes offload just before the line.

Fightback

Emerging after the interval trailing 20-6, Wakefield produced a spirited response and spent ten minutes almost exclusively camped out in the Bradford half, but the Bulls showed great defence to hold their line intact.

The Wildcats did get through with Dale Ferguson pouncing on Brough's clever chip through, but yet again video referee Silverwood chalked off the effort.

Wakefield continued to press as the Bulls looked tired, and after continuously knocking on the door the Wildcats got the first points of the second half on 66 minutes when Snitch bounced over.

Just three minutes later the gap was reduced to just four points at 20-16, as full-black Blaymire showed good feet to flick a deflected kick over the line before touching down behind the posts, and Wakefield were right back in the match.

With six minutes left Bradford summoned up the energy to kill-off the Wildcats though, as Worrincy ran in his fifth try of the season and Deacon kicked the Bulls back into a ten-point lead.

Sykes rounded off the win with his hat-trick two minutes before the end as Bradford finished off as they had started the match to run-out 32-16 winners.