JIMMY Lowes paid tribute to his players after the Bulls recorded a famous victory over reigning champions Wigan.

The legendary former hooker had seen his men lose all four of his previous games in charge but a 16-8 success got his reign up and running.

Bradford were worthy winners after overcoming the early loss to concussion of Brett Kearney, ruling him out of Friday’s trip to Leeds, as Elliot Kear stepped into the breach superbly.

Head coach Lowes said: “I'm not delighted for myself, I’m delighted for the boys. They've worked extremely hard since I've been at the club and I'm overjoyed for them.

“It's not about me, because some of the stuff we've done in training paid off in a big way today. Defensively they worked so hard for each other and that's a lot to do with what we do in training.

“You need belief in yourself and the efforts they've put in through training have been second to none – and that's how you build belief. You get self-confidence and that grows through you.”

The Bulls were forced to dig deep in the second half as Wigan scored their second try late on to set up a tense finish.

Lowes said: “There were still a couple of occasions where we were just a bit loose, particularly on Wigan's line.

“But the other side of that was how hard they hard to work in defence. That's down to them and down to their efforts each and every day in training.

“There's a lot of things players have got to work on, including where some of them are going to be next year.

“Players are leaving and one or two players are coming in, so there's a little bit of pressure there to perform – especially at home.

“We spoke about not throwing the towel in – we know where we are now and some of the lads don't really know what's happening with their rugby next year.

“We were tested on plenty of occasions again but we stood up really well and I could see a performance like that coming.”

When asked about the display of teenage back-rower Alex Mellor, Lowes refused to single out individuals.

“I could go through the team and say they all did really well," he said.

“Mellor played well and has got something special about him – but they were all fantastic. It's been a big team effort.”

Meanwhile, Danny Williams' loan spell from Salford expired after yesterday's game but the Bulls are looking to extend it ahead of Friday's trip to Leeds.