Steve McNamara challenged his players to produce an 80-minute display after watching them come back from the dead to beat Wigan 22-20 last night.

Although the Bulls boss was delighted with a last-gasp win that ended the Warriors’ 100 per cent Super League start, he knows they cannot afford to do the same every week.

Bradford had trailed 20-0 at the break after a wretched first-half display, reminiscent of the performance that led to a drubbing against St Helens three weeks ago.

And as thrilling as their revival was, capped by a last-minute try from Glenn Hall, McNamara is seeking improvement.

“We started okay in the first 10 or 15 minutes but we lost our way,” he said.

“We played some dumb rugby league and made some poor decisions. There were lots of little areas that prevented us from getting any sort of field position at all.

“We played nearly all of the first half in our own half and paid the price. We just needed to smarten up in some areas.

“I was pretty annoyed because I knew we hadn’t given ourselves an opportunity to play. We set a plan in place and started on that track but some sloppy handling and poor decisions cost us.

“We got back to 20-12, weathered a bit of a storm on our own try-line and got back into it but we can’t keep doing that every week and we’re not going to get carried away.

“We’re really pleased with the way we came back and that sort of win is as good as any team-bonding exercise you can ever go on. But we need to be a whole lot better for a longer period.”

Crucial to the turnaround was scrum half Matt Orford. After a first half in which nothing worked for the Bulls’ field general, he transformed his side’s fortunes after the interval, scoring two of their four tries.

“He wasn’t feeling so well either second half but he came up with some great plays, ran the ball himself and got a couple of tries,” said McNamara.

“His kicking game improved too. In those sorts of situations you need your leaders to lead and they did in the second half.”