IT was not a case of third time lucky this season for Bulls against Wakefield today, as the runaway Betfred Championship leaders came away from Odsal with a scrappy 14-2 win to make it 15 league victories from 15.
An early clash of heads between Sam Hallas and Ky Rodwell, which left both needing bandaged up, set the tone for a bruising encounter.
Josh Griffin mishandled a couple of metres out under pressure from Zac Fulton, with the two second rows also colliding and needing some running repairs.
And in a game full of hard-nosed defending and few chances, it was no surprise that Bulls took an easy two points to open the scoring 15 minutes in, Jordan Lilley knocking the ball between the sticks after Wakefield were penalised for offside in front of their own line.
Wakefield was fortunate to escape after Fulton’s knock-on and the subsequent penalty kick for offside denied Keven Appo’s attempt to break through from 10 meters away.
And they made Bulls pay, as after a good Trinity attack down the left was stopped by a crunching challenge from Jayden Okunbor on Oliver Pratt, the latter got the better of the former moments later.
Max Jowitt’s dab through from a few metres out saw Pratt get the better of a dozing Okunbor, and the Wakefield centre grounded the ball just before it went dead.
Jowitt swung the conversion just inside the left post for 6-2 and he soon landed an easy penalty after a clumsy late tackle from Ebon Scurr on Rodwell close in.
And they made Bulls pay, as after a good Trinity attack down the left was stopped by a crunching challenge from Jayden Okunbor on Oliver Pratt, the latter got the better of the former moments later.
Max Jowitt’s dab through from a few metres out saw Pratt get the better of a dozing Okunbor, and the Wakefield centre grounded the ball just before it went dead.
Jowitt swung the conversion just inside the left post for 6-2 and he soon landed an easy penalty after a clumsy late tackle from Ebon Scurr on Rodwell close in.
Referee Marcus Griffiths changed his mind after hooting for an infraction against Pratt a few meters out, signaling for Wakefield to get a penalty. It was a very chaotic finale to a nasty half.
Early in the second half, Griffiths was again under scrutiny after failing to call a tip tackle on Lilley, the third one the Bulls had called for during the game, and instead allowing Wakefield two penalties.
In the second instance, Appo and Tom Holmes made a tackle well in front of their own line, hence it was called a ball theft.
Jowitt scored the simple penalty to put Wakefield in double figures, and he quickly returned the kicking tee to
The full back nailed his kick from 20 metres out on the right to give his side a 12-2 advantage.
Then, Griffiths controversially declared that Eribe Doro had high tackled Caleb Uele, which infuriated the fans.
After the Bulls prop was sent off for ten minutes, Jowitt scored a long-range penalty to put his team ahead 14–2.
After that, Tom Doyle tackled Lilley with a tackle that appeared to be late and high. Bradford then had a glorious opportunity to score from the penalty, but Okunbor was judged to have touched the ball as he dove over in the corner.
And with Doro back on, Bulls almost scored again, as Gill took advantage of a loose pass on halfway and kicked through towards the Wakefield line, only to be beaten in the foot race by the rapid Jowitt, who dived to knock the ball out for a goal line dropout.
The game petered out thereafter, with even some late handbags after a tackle on Hallas quickly being quelled with no further punishment for either side.
The real punishment for Bulls was their first defeat since late May, with their buffer in the play-offs down to five points, after chasing Widnes, Featherstone, York and Batley all won.
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