BULLS star Matty Blythe has told his team's critics: Write us off at your peril.

Jimmy Lowes' men crashed to a second defeat in three games after a first-half horror show against Sheffield on Sunday.

The loss effectively ended any hopes of overhauling Leigh at the Championship summit and raised further questions about the Bulls' promotion pedigree. Yet Blythe insisted: "People can say whatever they want.

"Everyone can write us off, saying we aren't doing this or that in the Eights or the back end of the season. That's up to them. We know how hard we need to work and we'll do that."

Blythe also dismissed suggestions that Bradford had been complacent heading into the Sheffield defeat.

He said: "It was nothing like that at all. We're at the back end now and we've been professional throughout the year. We just didn't do what we'd set out to. It wasn't our day.

"Jimmy is pretty blunt with everything and he's right – it wasn't a good performance. From one to 17, we didn't start the way that we should.

"We finished really well, which was pleasing, but we left ourselves too much to do. It's just disappointing that we aren't doing things from the game-plan in the first half.

"In the second half, we had a go. There's no doubt about the character in this team. But character can only take you so far."

Despite the Bulls' struggle for form in recent weeks, Blythe remains adamant they can defy the odds and push hard for promotion in the Super Eights.

The Bulls host leaders Leigh on Sunday in a match that is effectively a dead rubber in terms of trying to finish top, with Paul Rowley's side looking to have established an insurmountable advantage.

Blythe said: "We know on our day we can beat any team in the Championship or Super League – we're that confident this year.

"We've got big games coming up but we've got a really good squad capable of beating anyone. We just need to buy into that as a team. Individually we've got some unbelievable players."