IT WAS an enduring image.

Bradford Bulls players celebrating wildly at the DW Stadium after one of the club’s most memorable victories of recent times.

The 30-22 success came at the height of the crisis-torn 2012 campaign when nobody knew if Mick Potter and his players would be paid or indeed whether the Bulls would survive.

As Potter’s men rejoiced in front of their supporters, Shaun Ainscough removed his shirt to reveal a vest with the words ‘Save Our Bulls’ written on it.

Those three words came to symbolise the most traumatic period in the club's modern history.

“I’ll never forget that night because I’ve still got the vest!” said Ainscough, a born and bred Wiganer who turned 25 today.

“I have a box full of memorabilia and it’s in there. I’ve got the picture in there too because it was the best night of my career.

“Wigan is my hometown club and they let me go, so to beat them on their own turf and in those circumstances was unforgettable.”

Ainscough left Bradford at the end of the 2012 season after turning down an offer from the club he at the time said he could not afford to accept.

Two years on, he looks back at the decision with regret.

The winger, who played in Australia for a year and spent last season at Whitehaven, has joined Batley on a one-year deal for 2015.

“The money on offer from Bradford two years ago wasn’t enough for the position I was in at the time,” Ainscough recalled.

“But looking back, I realise I probably should have stuck with it and taken it.

“It was a stressful time for everybody and I think it made me make the wrong decision.”

Nevertheless, Ainscough went on to enjoy his time in Australia, playing on a part-time basis for Group Nine side Southcity Bulls and working in a tyre factory.

He said: “It was in New South Wales in a place called Wagga Wagga and I loved it.

“It was a decent standard, pretty tough, and similar to the Championship here.

“I played centre and wing, had about 16 games and scored seventeen or eighteen tries.

“I planned on staying there and had signed for another year.

“But as my fiancé and I were having our second child, we decided to come home as it was just too expensive with the medical costs.

“Being in Australia also made me realise what I had given up back home and that I should have taken that offer from Bradford.

“Even now, I just need somebody to give me a chance. I would play for next to nothing now just to have that chance.”

After Ainscough and his partner Lauren made the decision to return home, the former Bulls man joined Whitehaven.

He helped them to avoid relegation ahead of next year’s major restructuring of the domestic game.

But travelling up to Cumbria to train took its toll and also hindered Ainscough’s attempts to find a full-time job.

He explained: “I got back from Australia and had to find somewhere pretty quickly as most teams had finished their recruitment.

“I loved it at Whitehaven, they were a great set of lads, but I had to set off for training at about 2pm and that made it hard to get a job.

“No job is going to let you out in the middle of the afternoon to go training.

“Sometimes I was getting back at half eleven, midnight even, and we were only training for an hour.

“So it was two and a half hour drive up there, the same time back, and all for just an hour’s training.

“They wanted me to stay but I was on next to no money there.

“I thought they would give me more after we stayed up but they only offered me a bonus after so many games and then so many games again.

“But I turned it down and then the opportunity to join Batley came up. That was the only real option.

“I did speak to London coach Joey Grima but I couldn’t uproot my young family again.”

Ainscough has worked as a personal trainer during the past year but is keen to enter full-time employment.

As well as being father to two young boys, Ainscough will marry Lauren in May 2015.

He said: “At the moment I’m working in my mate’s gym as a personal trainer but I need a proper job.

“I’d like to work in a school coaching rugby league but it’s hard.

“I’m not really qualified for anything else because all I’ve ever had is rugby.

“No-one wants to take on someone with no qualifications but I don’t want to work in a factory.”

A return to a full-time environment remains Ainscough’s objective for more reasons than one.

He said: “When you’re full-time, you eat right and your diet is good, and you’re training every day.

“You’re in good habits all the time. But when you’re part-time, you tend to grab rubbish food so you’re overweight and not able to train properly.

“You might see your kids on Monday but then you’re training Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday mornings.

“It’s hard and you don’t realise how tough it is until you’re in that situation.

“A lot of lads are packing the game in now because there is no money in it.

“I’ve love to play for Bradford again. It’s one of the best clubs I’ve been at and I absolutely loved my time there.

“I’m going to have to see how this year goes at Batley and decide what to do next.

“I still want to play in Super League and I’ve got a clause in my contract allowing me to go if a club comes in. I just need a chance to show what I can do.”