GEOFF Toovey admitted "stupid decisions" were to blame for the Bulls' latest loss at Halifax.

Late tries from Ethan Ryan and Ted Chapelhow, adding to a first for the club by Vila Halifihi, gave the derby scoreline a closer look at the Shay yesterday.

Fax chief Richard Marshall even feared his side might have lost if the game had lasted another five minutes.

Yet after the 20-18 defeat stretched the gap to Championship survival now to 11 points, Toovey felt the late flurry covered over the cracks.

He said: "I thought we played pretty ordinary football. They weren't so flash themselves and kept us in the match.

"But in the first half in particular, every time we got good ball we came up with stupid decisions, we'd drop balls or give away penalties.

"We just weren't good enough in those sets. We didn't mount enough pressure and that's what you've got to do.

"We can't just tackle all the time. It was very disappointing the way we completed our sets."

Eighteen-year-old Reiss Butterworth made his first start at scrum half as the Bulls reshuffled once again without loan star Jordan Lilley.

But Toovey was in no mood for excuses and said: "We're not about that at Bradford. We thought this team were going to be up for it and unfortunately we didn't come away with the points.

"We'll work hard again this week to play a very strong team in Hull KR but we need to be much better, especially in our execution in those good-ball sets because that was very poor.

"It was a big job for Reiss after Jordan Lilley was called back at late notice.

"I think he did a reasonable job there. Defensively he was very good, attack-wise it's going to take some adjustments to get used to this level. But it was a great experience and he should be proud of himself."

Former Wakefield centre Ashley Gibson made his Bulls debut at the Shay and Australian forward Damian Sironen flies in to England today to add further know-how to the young squad.

Toovey said: "He'll bring a lot of positivity and professionalism and some mettle to the middle as well.

"I thought Ash was solid. We probably didn't get to see enough until the last few minutes of play when there were a few opportunities for us.

"But he'll warm to the club and get used to playing with us and the combinations will get better. There's a long way ahead for us all. We've got to put our shoulder to the wheel and work hard."

Ross Peltier went off with an ankle injury after just 15 minutes, while Colton Roche also took a bang on the hip.

The Bulls are also waiting to find out the severity of the knee injury which forced centre Ross Oakes to miss the game.

Toovey said: "It looks like a miniscus tear. We'll have some further consultation regards what happens to him going forward. It could be a week (out of action), it could be three or four."