Bradford Bulls 46, Halifax Blue Sox 22 - 'Paul Deacon goal-kicking hero' is a headline that could be written most weeks.

But 'Paul Deacon try-scoring hero' - well that's quite another matter.

The 23-year-old scrum half had only scored 21 tries in 112 appearances for the Bulls before last night's Super League derby with Halifax Blue Sox.

However, he nipped over once in each half and added seven goals for a personal tally of 22 points.

The only pity was that he missed his second shot at goal, bringing his consecutive run of successful kicks to an end at 23.

Bulls coach Brian Noble is delighted that Deacon is developing his all-round game.

"Paul comes up with tries now and again, but one of the things that he has to be is a threat with the ball," said Noble.

"You can organise anything and make plays on the flanks as he has done tonight, but we have talked about his improvement revolving around being a threat with the ball, which a half-back has to be.

"He has a great step and he has some speed over a short distance so we will try and exploit that, and if he is a threat with the ball he is a far more difficult player to handle."

The Super League leaders recovered well from their setback at Leeds with eight tries.

Left winger Nathan McAvoy created the space for the first potent attack in the third minute with a lateral run which created an overlap on the right.

Fellow winger Tevita Vaikona carried the move on, and slipped an inside pass to Scott Naylor, back in the side after being dropped for the Rhinos clash eight days ago.

The right centre was hauled down, however, inside the 20-metre line, and soon a Vaikona 'try' was ruled out because of a forward pass from Naylor.

Naylor soon made amends by rounding off good play by Vaikona and forward Jamie Peacock to mark his 100th appearance for the Bulls with a try - and congratulations from Vaikona, pictured.

Deacon improved it and then crossed for a try himself having created some space with a long pass, but this time he could not convert.

However, the Bulls looked in command at 10-0 after 13 minutes.

Halifax, cheered on by a paltry following, had not registered an attack at that stage, but winger Colum Halpenny put them back in contention by racing 80 metres to score after scrum half Gavin Clinch pounced on a Brandon Costin handling error.

First the Blue Sox player outstripped James Lowes, then McAvoy before dancing around Peacock for the try, Danny Tickle adding the 17th-minute conversion.

The Bulls continued to dominate for long spells, though, and twice failed to take advantage of penalties close to the Blue Sox line.

A touch of class by stand-off Robbie Paul gave a Bradford attack some impetus in the 23rd minute, however, and full back Michael Withers finished it off.

Deacon goalled again, and centre Costin crossed only to be recalled for a forward pass by loose forward Mike Forshaw.

Two successive penalties against Bulls prop Brian McDermott, however, gave Halifax the chance to mount some rare pressure near the home line and full back Jason Flowers linked well to score.

Withers struck again though two minutes by brilliantly collecting Deacon's cross-kick to give the Bulls a 22-10 interval lead.

However, there was just enough time left for Blue Sox's Jim Gannon to clatter fellow substitute prop Stuart Fielden.

Both should probably have had ten minutes in the sin-bin to cool down - Gannon for the initial offence and Fielden for the retaliation - but half-time had the same affect instead,

With the strong wind behind them after the break on a bitterly cold night, the Bulls continued to set the pace, repeatedly stretching the visiting defence with some crisp, confident handling.

Leon Pryce was at the heart of much of their good work after coming on at half-time for 'dead leg' victim James Lowes.

Skipper Paul scored after a build-up featuring Withers and the outstanding Vaikona while Halifax were effectively reduced to 12 men, centre Stuart Donlan lying face down on the turf on their right.

And then the impressive Pryce sent Deacon over for his second try, his fifth goal from six attempts making it 34-10 after 56 minutes.

Substitute Lee Radford scored with his first touch of the ball seconds after coming on to register the Bulls' seventh try before Halifax hit back suddenly, hooker Johnny Lawless grabbing two tries from close range within three minutes, making it 40-22 with ten minutes left.

Gannon, who had been cautioned for that tackle on Fielden, was then sin-binned for a professional foul when he stopped the Bulls re-starting play quickly, and the hosts rounded off a convincing win with a well deserved late try by Vaikona to which Deacon added his seventh goal to complete his match tally of 22 points.

It was the strangest try of the night, however, the Halifax defence having virtually stopped waiting for referee Karl Kirkpatrick to blow for a knock-on.