THEY had sung themselves hoarse for 80 minutes and more, cheering their team on right to the bitter end.

Hardly a single Bulls fan left the stadium until the final whistle but when it did come they streamed out of Belle Vue, some with their heads bowed, one or two in tears, many in silence.

Their nerves shattered, the emotions ranged from disappointment to dejection and not a little anger towards the refereeing and the ‘system’ for denying them promotion.

Chris, one of the first fans to leave at the end, said: “There just was not enough quality. What happened makes a fool of the new system where a team like Wakefield, who are bottom year after year, can still make Super League. It’s ridiculous.”

He said the Bulls had stumbled due to a “lack of heart”.

One or two fans were too heartbroken to say more than a few words.

Gutted Bulls fan Alex Maudsley, 25, from Queensbury, could only shake his head and say: “Disappointing.”

As the faithful made their way towards the city centre, they had to bear some good-natured banter from their opponents who were only to keen to twirl their flags and hold aloft their ‘TRY’ placards.

Paul Butterworth, 60, of Brighouse, said: "Why are so many big games lost by controversial refereeing decisions? I'm proud of the guys to come from where we have been in recent years to what we have achieved today. I, for one, am going to buy my season ticket as soon as; the club deserves our support. I feel for the players but I think they can take a lot of pride in what they achieved today."

Reece Harris, 25, from Queensbury, said: "I'm obviously gutted but it was a really good game. They played better than us - what else can you say? (It was down to) decisions made by certain people at certain times. We were far better than that today."

George Drake, 25, of Queensbury, said the result was "heartbreaking".

He said the Bulls lacked a "little bit of toughness in the first half - they bashed us."

"They were making more metres and got us down in our half. It was a poor kicking game."

Deborah Sharkey, 53, and daughter Kimberley, 27, of Thornbury, Bradford, said the Bulls had played with a lot of pride and did not deserve to lose.

"I thought they were fantastic and we played our hearts out," said Kimberley.

Mrs Sharkey, who was critical of the referring, added: "I'm absolutely gutted. They played well today and don't deserve not to have won."

Craig Drake, 45, of Queensbury, said the game had shattered his nerves.

"It felt like I was coming to a Grand Final. It was a fantastic game for the neutrals. My nerves are shot. It boiled down to us playing a Super League team and just not having that extra little bit that we needed."

Adam Watson, 25, said he was going for a few drinks as he felt "gutted."

"I think we will come back stronger next year and we'll have them. We are going for a few beers now to drown our sorrows."