Bradford Bulls 12, Widnes Vikings 56

IT WOULD be easy to point the finger at Joe Cobb after a painful afternoon in which his officiating again left Bulls fans furious.

The rookie referee was a late call-up following a groin injury to Richard Silverwood and made a number of dubious calls, as he had in the opening-day defeat at Leigh.

Jimmy Lowes copped a fine for his comments following the Leigh Sports Village encounter but was rather more diplomatic after yesterday's match.

He was also honest about his side's shortcomings during an utterly one-sided second half which highlighted the gulf between Super League and the Championship.

The second 40 minutes finished 42-0 in favour of Widnes after they spent almost the entire half camped in the Bulls' half.

Lowes said: "We made too many errors – end of story – and gave Widnes too much easy field position. Everything we didn't do in the first half we did in the second."

Nevertheless, Cobb missed a forward pass from Chris Clarkson in the build-up to Joe Mellor's second try in the 28th minute.

Widnes led only 14-12 at the break but after the interval they ran riot, albeit aided and abetted by some curious decision-making from Cobb.

The Newton-le-Willows official, who had refereed Halifax's defeat to Salford on Saturday, twice called Adrian Purtell back for forward passes and allowed forward-looking offloads from Ben Galea and Kevin Brown which led to tries for Charly Runciman and Hep Cahill.

So in the end Widnes coasted to victory and the Bulls suffered a potentially damaging Super 8s qualifying defeat which did their points difference no favours whatsoever.

Bradford were unchanged following their thumping win over Salford last time out but Widnes, buoyed by the influence of half-back pairing Kevin Brown and Mellor, gradually made their class pay.

Mellor scored a hat-trick – as did former Bulls star Patrick Ah Van, who took his impressive tally for the club to nine tries in five games against his erstwhile employers.

Helped by the award of three early penalties, the Bulls battered Widnes' line during a period of sustained pressure and it was only a matter of time before they opened the scoring.

It came in the 17th minute and was an exquisitely-worked score from which Purtell profited.

After good work through the middle by Adam O'Brien, the Bulls drove at the heart of the Vikings' defence, James Clare advancing forward from full back.

He found Jay Pitts and the back-rower kept the move flowing with an intelligent pass to Jake Mullaney, who showed outstanding awareness and skill to spot Purtell unmarked inside the left channel.

Mullaney's exquisite long pass invited his compatriot to scamper over from 20 metres out and Purtell did not hesitate as he powered over for a brilliantly-worked score.

Danny Addy converted but the response from Widnes underlined their Super League pedigree as they began to showcase their undeniable attacking threat.

They went on score three tries in eight minutes, with their first coming shortly after Purtell's opener.

Mellor was on hand to touch down in the right corner and then Ah Van grabbed his customary score against the Bulls in the 25th minute.

It stemmed from a 40-20 from the mercurial Brown and it was ruthlessly punished moments later.

The tactical manoeuvre, which so often leads to a try, did so again here as Widnes exploited the field position to score a classic winger's try as Ah Van took Brown's superb long pass to finish acrobatically in the left corner.

Bulls v Widnes match pictures

A third try did not take long to arrive and it came in the 28th minute when Clarkson, who had come off the bench, broke the Bulls' line through the middle and Mellor was on hand to support him and race clear from 30 metres out, with replays suggesting Clarkson's pass was forward.

Brown then went extremely close to a fourth Widnes try in the 32nd minute but was denied by some fine defending.

The Vikings talisman was at fault on the stroke of half-time when he threw an over-ambitious pass on his own 20-metre line.

Omari Caro was quickest to react as he plucked the ball out of the air and had the pace and strength to race 80 metres for a fine individual score.

Addy converted to cut Widnes' lead to two points at the break but after the restart the visitors seized control – controversially and emphatically.

They grabbed a fifth try in the 48th minute when Runciman collected what appeared suspiciously like a forward pass from Galea before crashing over inside the left channel.

The decision left the Bradford faithful furious but they could have precious little complaint about the try which put Widnes further ahead two minutes later.

This time a seemingly harmless kick from Mellor looked certain to be dealt with by Clare but he allowed the ball to bounce and it did so wickedly.

Mellor was alert enough to scamper forward, collect possession and retain control of the ball enough to race over for his hat-trick try.

Mellor's celebrations in front of the Widnes supporters sparked a minor melee between both sets of players. Order was quickly restored and, in fairness to the Vikings, they never looked back thereafter.

Danny Tickle soon added a penalty to make 24-12 and the Bulls simply could not escape their own half.

Perhaps inevitably, there was controversy surrounding Widnes' next try as they scored when a kick from Mellor forced the Bulls to drop out before a pass from Brown, which again looked dubious, put Cahill over the line.

Clare was replaced immediately, with Mullaney – who struggled to get into the game all afternoon – moved to full back and Purtell switched to the halves.

It did nothing to quell the tide as Widnes had by now set up camp in the Bulls' half.

Their domination of field position harvested another try in the 66th minute and it was a well-worked effort for Ah Van.

Brown, Rhys Hanbury and Runciman were all involved as the ball was worked to Ah Van, who touched down for his ninth try in five games against the Bulls.

Hanbury was the next player to touch down and then Brown got the try his efforts deserved when he wriggled out of four challenges to score on the last tackle, before Ah Van touched down with ease in the left corner late on.

Attendance: 6,881