LEON Pryce believes the Bulls must smarten up their act if they are to climb the Kingstone Press Championship table.

Bradford threw away an eight-point lead at Oldham on Sunday before falling to a dramatic late try from Keiron Gill, the 26-22 defeat being their fourth in eight games so far.

Given the 12-point deduction, it left them still four off their initial goal of getting to zero and six from safety – perhaps fortunate that Dewsbury and Swinton have won only one game between them to therefore stay within touching distance.

Following the opening-day defeat to Rochdale, Sunday's reverse was also a second loss to a team expected to be in the battle to avoid the bottom two places.

Club captain Pryce, who watched from the sidelines again due to his knee complaint, did not question the work-rate in the team but said they continued to make too many errors and paid the price.

"The effort was there – we're just not smart enough," said the veteran former international star.

"Week in week out we're dropping too much ball and at some point that will bite you on the backside. If you keep doing that you'll get your comeuppance, like we did (at Oldham)."

Gill's match-winning try was a cracker, a long-range effort started by his fellow Castleford loanee Tuoyo Egodo.

"Oldham didn't win the game – I think we lost it," was Pryce's verdict. "We're a young team and we have to learn from it.

"We should have won, definitely. Even at the end I thought we'd done enough, despite the mistakes. There were three minutes to go and we were in their half. We just needed to defend one or two sets and it's game over."