Two high-quality kicks helped the Bulls dislodge Hull's grip on the Powergen Challenge Cup at the first attempt on Saturday.

This fourth-round tie was in the balance at half-time when the holders, who had played into the wind in the first half, only trailed

8-6.

However, Hull were never able to exert the pressure they wanted in the second half and had their dream of a Twickenham final shattered by Iestyn Harris and Paul Deacon.

Skipper Harris didn't have much of a target to aim for in the 50th minute when he booted the ball towards Marcus Bai on the right flank.

However, the winger was able to watch the ball drop over the head of a visiting defender, let it bounce, catch it and stroll over for the try.

Deacon nailed the touch-line conversion on what was a difficult day for kickers due to the rain-sodden pitch, and then made Hull suffer further in the 56th minute.

Iestyn Harris's weaving run on the right had created the opportunity and Deacon, in centre field, delivered an equally accurate kick to the left wing.

Lesley Vainikolo palmed the ball back to the waiting Shontayne Hape, who slithered under a tackle to score.

A dodgy 8-6 scoreline had become a much more relaxed 18-6 advantage and Deacon sensibly opted for a one-pointer in the 64th minute to put the Bulls three scores in front.

Nevertheless, Hull's display in a scrappy mud-caked encounter must have pleased their under-pressure coach John Kear.

It was degrees better than their abject 46-0 Super League defeat at home to St Helens eight days earlier, although the focus on his position as coach will now shift to the Airlie Birds' home match against Leeds on Friday.

Despite having suffered four defeats in their previous five Super League encounters, the visitors started the more positive.

Playing into a stiff breeze that blew off the hair-pieces of two of the three band members in the pre-match entertainment and on a pitch that understandably cut up badly, Hull almost scored in the first minute.

Left-winger Kirk Dixon spilled Sid Domic's pass with the line yawning but they went behind in the fourth minute, Deacon making Lee Radford pay for a high tackle on Hape.

Hull, who beat the Bulls 26-24 in a fifth-round encounter at the KC Stadium last

season, were on the attack again when they suffered a sucker-punch.

Bai was incensed when Mirfield-based

referee Richard Silverwood ruled that he had knocked on in the tenth minute, the ball going forward inadvertently off his boot as he stooped to pick it up.

And there was doubtless some extra oomph as Bai went to meet Shaun Briscoe a minute later.

The ball went flying towards the halfway line and Bulls centre Ben Harris was the first to react, setting up decent position on the right.

Loose forward Jamie Langley then broke a tackle on the left and exchanged passes with the imposing figure of centre Karl Pryce before going over.

Deacon missed that conversion but added another two points in the 17th minute after Hull were offside.

Only last-ditch tackles from Kirk Yeaman on Hape and Danny Brough on Cook prevented the Bulls from going further ahead.

Richard Horne rightly had a try ruled out by video when Ian Henderson and Mick Withers prevented him from touching down.

But the lesson wasn't learnt and two

minutes later Horne jinked his way over from a play-the-ball, breaking two tackles and spinning his way to the line.

Danny Brough was able to land an easy goal and Hull kept the deficit to two points for the rest of the half, although Hape didn't do the Bulls cause any favours by trying to off-load near the Hull line despite being tackled by three visiting defenders.

There were bound to be handling errors on such a heavy pitch - it was cutting up markedly even when Hull were warming up before the kick-off - and a mistake by Paul Cooke early in the second half put the East Yorkshire side under immediate pressure.

And the Bulls took advantage with those accurate kicks by Iestyn Harris and Deacon, whose pass to Withers created the try-scoring position for Bai's touchdown.

Deacon's kicks in the first half, which slowed up in the mud, kept Hull pinned back but the visitors were never able to exert the same pressure on Bradford when the weather worsened in the second half. The wind sprang up and the rain came down as the temperature fell by several degrees and Hull had a really tough ask once Deacon's drop goal had made it 19-6.

Withers' tackle denied Gareth Raynor a try but with seven minutes remaining Horne gave Hull renewed hope by scoring again.

Brough's goal cut the margin to seven points but their dreams were snuffed out by Stanley Gene. The 31-year-old, whose shirt seemed day-glo white so bright was it in comparison to everyone else's, received an astute Iestyn Harris pass and slipped a

tackle to scamper over in the 78th minute.

His joy at scoring was obvious and it proved to be the final nail in Hull's defence of the cup.