ROHAN Smith felt the Bulls had been given a “reality check” after they were pushed all the way in yesterday’s 36-26 win at Dewsbury.

Glenn Morrison’s part-timers cut Bradford’s lead to four points with two late tries before Mitch Clark’s last-gasp score finally confirmed victory for Smith’s men.

It was a fourth straight success for the Bulls in the Championship Shield since their defeat at Featherstone on the final day of the regular season.

Head coach Smith said: “A good hard, messy, scrappy hard-fought win was what we needed.

“We’ve had it our own way a little but lately so this was a reality check for some guys.

“It’s hard to play at your very best week in and week out but, aside from the Featherstone game, if you look back in recent weeks we have played strongly a lot.

“Today was still a strong performance, but we just didn’t have the polish we’ve had in recent weeks.

“On that showing, we've got a lot of improvement in us but we are aiming to end the season with silverware. We are looking forward to Swinton this week.”

Smith was unhappy with the performance of referee Scott Mikalauskas as tensions frequently threatened to boil over.

The Bulls boss, who saw Dane Chisholm make a telling contribution, added: “It was nothing that we weren't prepared for.

“I thought very few of the penalties that were awarded against us were for ill discipline – it was more down to the referee's interpretation.

“Today the referee let things go at the start of the game.

“That made things more difficult and that builds the tension in the crowd when they feel there should be more intervention.

“Dane came up with some great plays for us when we needed them and he definitely has that class about him.”

Homegrown hooker Joe Lumb made his first appearance since recovering from knee surgery.

Smith, who saw Alex Mellor (dead leg) and Epalahame Lauaki (hamstring) pick up knocks, said of Lumb: “He needs to get more game-time and match fitness to show us what he's capable of. But it was a good start for Lumby.”