King reigns over Bulls

Warrington turned around a half-time deficit to beat Bradford 33-8 and move level on points with Wigan at the top of Super League.

The in-form Wolves scored 27 second-half points without reply at the Halliwell Jones Stadium having trailed 8-6 at the interval.

The centre-wing combination of Ryan Atkins and Matt King simply proved too much for the Bulls to handle, as the pair scored two tries apiece down the left.

Michael Monaghan also touched down and added a drop goal as Tony Smith's side made it three wins from three without the injured Lee Briers.

Defiant Bulls

The reverse ends a three-match winning run for the Bulls, who had managed to take a slender lead into the break thanks to two well-taken tries and some stoic defence when their line was put under intense pressure.

Despite losing Jamie Langley to illness on the journey over the Pennines, the visitors looked the more dangerous side in a scoreless opening qauarter.

Scrum-half Matt Orford hit the post with a penalty before the first points finally arrived in the 24th minute through skipper Andy Lynch.

The forward ploughed his way over from close range, somehow managing to ground the ball despite the attentions of three defenders.

A second could have followed soon after but hooker Heath L'Estrange failed to gather his own chip over the top with no Warrington player around him.

The hosts hit back just after the half-hour through Richie Myler, the scrum-half - who missed the win over Crusaders the previous weekend through injury - left with an easy finish following Mickey Higham's burst from dummy-half.

Chris Bridge landed the conversion to put the home team 6-4 ahead but Bradford refused to go away, crossing for a second time through Paul Sykes.

The decision not to go for a kick at the posts when awarded a penalty reaped dividends when the centre accepted Orford's bullet pass to burst over, a twist in the tackle allowing him to get the ball down over the try-line.

But, just as they had failed to muster a point in the first half of their thrilling comeback win over Wigan last time out, the Bulls were blanked in a one-sided 40 minutes after the break.

Deadly duo

Atkins and King proved a deadly duo out wide, the former putting the Wolves ahead again when he accepted a pass from the latter to get his first four-pointer for the Wire since his arrival from Wakefield in the winter months.

The centre then combined with Louis Anderson to return the favour for King, who immediately created another straight from the re-start.

After bursting through Michael Worrincy and Rikki Sheriffe, the Australian spotted Atkins racing up on his left shoulder and then watched on as his team-mate skipped around Sykes to leave himself an easy run-in next to the posts.

Monaghan then took over proceedings to make sure of the result, starting with an individual try that saw him dummy his way through to the line.

The hooker slotted over a drop goal to extend Warrington's cushion before getting a late assist, the outstanding King reeling in a high, cross-field kick ahead of Sheriffe and just about grounding the ball under pressure.

The television official eventually gave the benefit of the doubt to the attacker, meaning the ex-Kangaroo, who was heavily criticised during his first season in England, has now managed two tries in each of his last three outings.