BRADFORD BULLS 17

LONDON BRONCOS 14

by Nigel Askham

at Odsal

Attendance: 11,893

The Bulls consolidated a top-three spot but not before uncompromising London had given them their now customary scare.

After rattling up the half-century at Wheldon Road last week they were made to fight for every point and were just a touch grateful to see Peter Gill's last second grubber kick roll dead as the Broncos battled right to the end.

Steve McNamara's superb drop goal had looked to have finally shaken them off 11 minutes from time as the Bulls led 17-10 but Iain Higgins late try kept the champions sweating right to the hooter.

Three tries apiece showed how the Broncos played their full part as the Bulls struggled to find anything like top gear.

In a bruising first-half battle it was the Bulls who struck the opening blow with a superb right flank raid.

Robbie Paul moved the ball wide and Graeme Bradley brought the charging Tevita Vaikona back on the inside before taking a difficult return pass at knee height and finishing off in the corner.

But instead of proving a platform the Bulls found problems both with their handling and referee Steve Presley's refusal to penalise the Broncos for persistent offside and holding down .

In fact the visitors enjoyed a territorial advantage for much of the remainder of the half.

It took only six minutes for the charged up Broncos to get back in the game when Sonny Nickle coughed up possession in his own 22 and Terry Matterson launched a raid which ended with Tulsen Tollett pulling out of Danny Peacock's attempted tackle to send in supporting full-back Nick Mardon.

And as the pressure continued it needed some desperate defence to prevent the Richard Branson backed outfit building up a useful lead.

But with Bulls fans just happy to see the break in sight they incredibly found themselves ahead as their attacking machine clicked into gear for only the second time in the opening 40 minutes.

Stuart Spruce did the damage with a superb thrust and Shaun Edwards was at his shoulder to juggle with the pass before finding Jimmy Lowes for the vital touch.

McNamara goaled and the Bulls gave themselves hope for the second period after looking well off the pace for much of the half.

A bright start after the break appeared to put them in the position to go on and take advantage of a Broncos outfit lacking five leading players.

More good work by Spruce saw Paul held short but Lowes kept the momentum going with good service from acting half-back and Brian McDermott drove through a double tackle for his fourth try in the last three games.

But it was the signal for the Bulls to drop back into sloppy mode and the Broncos were in just the mood to make them pay with Paul's wayward pass giving them the position and Mardon eventually going over off Steve Rosolen but fortunately for the home side Matterson's missed goal kept the margin at six points.

McNamara settled the nerves with a superb 35 metre drop goal which took an age to go over but they rarely moved with any of the fluency which destroyed Castleford last week and will take far more satisfaction from the win than the performance.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.