Top dogs but Bradford Bulls lack bite against Batley

IT HAS taken them the best part of the season, but the Bulls can finally taste the rarefied air at the Championship summit.

Okay, so they have only claimed top spot because Leigh were involved in the Challenge Cup this weekend.

And once again it was a scratchy performance in which it was difficult to distinguish between the part-timers and the full-time professionals.

Without a recognised half-back owing to the absence of Harry Siejka, Jake Mullaney and Lee Gaskell, the Bulls struggled for cohesion at times and also made numerous handling errors.

But Adrian Purtell stepped into the breach alongside Danny Addy and both men made telling contributions, while Adam Henry and Matty Blythe weighed in with two tries apiece.

It is now 17 straight league wins and counting since that opening-day defeat at the hands of the Centurions. That is quite some record.

Relegation-threatened Batley arrived at Odsal on the back of seven straight defeats but they belied their lowly status with a stirring display.

John Kear, the old master motivator, loves games like these. He had conjured a fine display from his players when the Bulls visited Mount Pleasant earlier in the season and he did likewise here.

Batley, for whom former Bulls star Shaun Ainscough was sent off for dissent with 16 minutes remaining, fought tooth and nail from the first minute to the last.

They were guided around the park by Cain Southernwood and Scott Leatherbarrow, two half-backs who progressed through the academies at Bradford and Wigan respectively.

In the end, the Bulls did just about enough to see off Kear's spirited troops, although this was no vintage display. A sterner test beckons when Featherstone arrive at Odsal on Wednesday evening.

Lowes was seeking a vastly-improved performance from his players following the indifferent displays against Dewsbury and Workington in their two previous outings.

But his cause was not helped by the unavailability of Siejka, who was not risked after aggravating an ankle injury on his comeback appearance in Cumbria last weekend.

The opening carry of the game by Adam Sidlow was full of aggression and purpose, which drew a warm round of applause from the home faithful and might have set the tone for a vibrant start. Yet Batley had other ideas and opened the scoring inside the fourth minute.

Referee Jamie Bloem penalised the Bulls for holding down and Batley scored from the next set as Southernwood's high, hanging kick to the left corner found Alex Brown. The winger outjumped the Bulls defence and did well to catch the ball and ground it under pressure.

There was a clear forward pass by Leatherbarrow earlier in the set but the scrum half converted Brown's try and Batley led 6-0.

The response from the Bulls was encouraging, Blythe making his presence felt with some strong runs at left centre.

The pressure told when Addy's grubber kick caused panic in the Batley defence and, as Leatherbarrow attempted to clear the ball for a goal-line drop-out, he only succeeded in knocking it onto the crossbar.

As the ball ran loose, Pitts was on hand to touch down for a simple try which Ryan Shaw converted.

The visitors, for whom Leatherbarrow and Southernwood dovetailed superbly in the halves, came back strongly.

Ainscough also enjoyed himself on his first return to Odsal since leaving the Bulls at the end of the crisis-torn 2012 campaign.

He played in the centres yesterday and would have loved to have emerged victorious at a club he still holds close to his heart.

Ainscough was involved in Batley being awarded back-to-back penalties from Bloem which forced the Bulls to defend like demons.

The first came when O'Brien was penalised as Ainscough tried to play the ball less than ten metres out.

Batley continued to pressure the Bulls' line after being given another penalty but it came to nothing as Southernwood's last-tackle kick to the left corner was overcooked. Still, it would have poured belief into Kear's players.

Moments later, Danny Williams embarked on a searing break down the left channel from deep inside his own half. He made it to Batley's 30-metre line but when his inside pass found James Mendeika in support, the former Warrington academy player lost the ball.

Henry then broke down the right flank and looked to have a relatively simple task to send Shaw over, but again the execution was awry and the opportunity spurned.

Batley were dangerous at the other end and Dale Ferguson had to be on hand to deny the visitors a try with a timely interception before the Bulls edged ahead immediately after.

Addy was again involved as he supported a break and barged past several defenders before sending Mendeika under the posts from close range.

Shaw again converted and Ferguson then went close to adding a third try as his brute strength almost took him past a handful of Batley defenders and over the line.

However, the Bulls kept the ball moving and Henry finished off some neat handling inside the right channel.

Bulls v Batley match pictures

Shaw's conversion rebounded off an upright but, after Batley lost the ball on halfway, the Bulls advanced forward from the scrum as Henry collected possession in the right channel again.

He brilliantly powered his way past the tiring Batley defence for his second and the Bulls' fourth try of the afternoon.

But as the interval approached, Leatherbarrow kicked a delightful 40-20, the tactical manoeuvre which so often leads to a try.

It did so again here as winger Wayne Reittie drove through the heart of the Bulls defence on a diagonal run which saw him ground inside the left channel.

Leatherbarrow's conversion hit a post but Batley's attacking threat was underlined moments before the interval hooter when replacement prop Alex Rowe, making his 200th career appearance, easily broke the Bulls' line.

His pass invited Anthony Nicholson to run at the home defence but he did not have enough support around him and the opportunity was lost.

The second half was a scrappy affair, with Bloem putting an incident involving Purtell on report before Ainscough saw red.

He received a yellow card for lashing out at Shaw and, when he made his feelings known to Bloem, he was shown a red card for dissent.

Williams scored a fifth Bulls try soon after in the left corner and Blythe touched down for his brace with two well-taken scores inside the left channel after Rowe had outmuscled the home defence to add a third score for Batley.

Attendance: 5,089