Francis Cummins could not hide his frustration as the Bulls suffered a bitterly disappointing defeat at the hands of Salford last night.

The Red Devils, playing under new coach Iestyn Harris for the first time, scored seven tries to claim a 38-24 success and leave Bradford still on minus two points.

Cummins admitted his men fell short and said: “We are three good plays on and then one off in both attack and defence.

“We are good in spells but we kept coming up with silly errors and bought blatant dummies.

“Salford have some great individuals who are capable of unlocking a defence but we made it too easy for them.”

Rangi Chase stole the show for Salford with an impressive display against a Bulls side bolstered by the return of Matt Diskin, Adam Sidlow and Lee Gaskell.

Cummins said: “We had a few people who haven’t played for a while who maybe took the odd read wrong and I can accept that – but to take those cold dummies is very poor.

“We certainly don’t coach it and we don’t practice it but in games we tend to overwork and help people on the edges and forget about the most important man; the man with the ball.

“I think we had 14 sets in the first half and that’s just not enough. We gave a team like Salford, who have so many attacking threats, too much ball and too much momentum and it takes its toll.”

Cummins used five props and opted not to select the versatile Danny Addy but he took encouragement from the performance of Gaskell.

The Bulls boss said: “Gaskell looked sharp early on and he took the line on.

“We came up with some nice tries – I thought Elliot Kear did well for his.

“We don’t stop working but effort is not the only thing you are measured on. You are measured on tackling and defending.”

On Addy’s omission, Cummins added: “We need to keep people playing and Danny has been very good for us and will continue to be very good for us.

“I had to give Gaskell a chance at six so unfortunately Danny missed out.

“We are going to have to tinker and try and get the best team out for Leeds now.

“We can only look at the next game but if we are going to keep switching off like we are we will be embarrassed by Leeds.

“We’ve got to be better against Leeds and then Wigan and take a few steps forward.”