Bradford Bulls are to have another stab at cementing their relationship with sponsors Skylark after negotiations took a step forward over the weekend.

Bulls chairman Chris Caisley told the Telegraph & Argus the club's board had received letters from Brendan Larkin, owner of Skylark, over the weekend. The letters urged the two sides to put contractual disputes behind them.

And yesterday the Super League side was due to re-present a cheque for £176,250, for the remaining part of the sponsorship, to its bank.

The agreement follows on from a botched deal between club and sponsor when a cheque from Mr Larkin to the Bulls could not be honoured by his bank.

Mr Caisley said he hoped the Bulls could finalise negotiations before the Challenge Cup Final against St Helens at Twickenham on April 28 and allow the club to focus on retaining the trophy.

He said: "Mr Larkin wrote a letter to the club's directors at the weekend in which he invited the club to move forward with him and put everything behind them.

"Now we hope that everything will be resolved and we can move forward, particularly with the Challenge Cup final coming up on us."

Rumblings between the sides began at the end of March when the T&A announced the Bulls had initiated insolvency proceedings against Skylark for the unpaid sponsorship money.

A day later Mr Larkin said he would settle the bill and presented a cheque two days before the side's semi-final game against Warrington.

The following Monday, April 2, Mr Larkin's solicitor Andrew Hill sent a letter to the Bulls' solicitor Simon Franckel saying his client's bank had not met the cheque but that the matter was being addressed.

Mr Caisley said: "It is unfortunate we had to take the action that we did, but I do not think we were left with any alternative in the circumstances."