Bulls 44 Batley Bulldogs 22

THE Bulls are halfway to Ground Zero after an explosive attacking display earned them a richly-deserved third win of the season.

They ran in eight tries – five in a one-sided second half – to ruin Matt Diskin's return to Odsal as Batley finished well beaten.

A third win in six reduces the points deficit to minus six and the ultimately emphatic manner of this victory will give genuine grounds for optimism.

By the time they are back in Championship action in a fortnight, Geoff Toovey should finally be properly installed at the helm. If this was Leigh Beattie's final game in interim charge, it was some send-off.

Skipper Leon Pryce returned to the home line-up after missing the London defeat with a minor knee injury. He was partnered in the halves by Lee Smith as Beattie opted to stick with Oscar Thomas at full back.

Johnny Campbell earned his first start of the season against his former club, with Iliess Macani dropping to the bench. Prop Jon Magrin was also cleared to play after the head injury that forced him off early on in Ealing.

Just one point came between the sides in their two meetings last year as the Bulls nicked a 17-16 Odsal thriller following an away draw.

Plenty has changed since then, of course. The Bulls did not even have a team as such when they were due to open pre-season at Heritage Road in January – a fixture that bit the dust amid all the uncertainty surrounding the club.

Diskin's Bulldogs again harbour top-four ambitions and arrived at Odsal eyeing a third successive win, although the rookie coach was also wary of the gathering momentum from his former club.

The pre-match show featured a parade of stock cars but none of them showed the speed to match Ross Oakes as the centre gave the Bulls an immediate lead, darting through the right side of the Batley defence.

Thomas continued to show a hot boot with the conversion and the home side looked to be off to a flyer.

But after Pryce's early kick had turned Batley round, the Bulldogs cashed in on a penalty to move deep into Bradford territory. Alistair Leak then took advantage of a dozing defence to claim a soft try from dummy half, Dom Brambani levelling the scores.

Errors were again proving costly for the Bulls, with five in the opening 15 minutes.

The lively Leak was held up on the line but another home mistake presented Batley with a penalty ten metres out. The visitors opted to run it and Brambani weaved to create an opening for Joel Farrell to reach over with an extended arm.

Batley were making big ground through the middle, with the Bulls struggling to contain the power of Will Maher.

They threatened to move further ahead when Pryce appeared to trip winger Wayne Reittie near the corner. But Campbell wrapped up Hayward wide on the left and Thomas swept up Brambani's grubber kick.

It was fast and furious – if heavy on the mistakes – but Ross Peltier's arrival energised the Bulls in attack. Kevin Larroyer was wrapped up ten metres short but the Frenchman then took Pryce's short pass to go over.

The topsy-turvy nature of the contest continued with another Bulls try within three minutes.

Oakes created the danger with another weaving run before James Bentley, playing in his favoured loose-forward role, went over, Thomas tacking on the extras.

Yet once again, the Bulls shot themselves in the foot with a knock-on to give Batley great field position to hit back.

Brad Day was stopped by three white shirts but another penalty maintained the Bulldogs' momentum. Larroyer and Smith stopped Dave Scott and Tom Lillycrop close in but their diligence was undone as Sam Smeaton found a large hole in Bradford's left side to go over.

Brambani impressively landed the touchline conversion to make it 18 apiece and there were still five minutes left of a breathless half.

Ethan Ryan superbly claimed Brambani's cross-field kick under huge pressure before the Bulls forced a late goalline drop-out – but ran out of time to take advantage.

The madcap action continued from the restart as Batley scored again within a minute through stand-off Tom Holmes. Toovey will not have been happy with the lack of defence to stop him.

Brambani surprisingly missed the conversion but the Bulls let Batley off the hook with a poor kick from Larroyer as they pressured the line.

But the hosts clawed their way back level with a wonderful try from Ryan. Magrin bulldozed through the middle before Smith and Pryce combined to whip the ball out to the former West Bowling youngster.

He still had it all to do as he gathered a low pass but then showed fantastic athleticism with a jumping finish to avoid going into touch.

Smeaton was sin-binned to give Bulls the player advantage – and they made it count as Oakes dived in for his second try after Thomas was held up just short.

The full back was bang on with a tough conversion and Bradford had a six-point lead for the second time.

Scottish international Scott just about managed to prevent Ryan racing away on his own kick but a Thomas penalty 13 minutes from time gave the Bulls some breathing space with a two-score advantage.

It had been a second half to remember for the Odsal crowd – and the best was yet to come. Brambani threw out a speculative pass and Campbell intercepted to run from one end to the other for the sweetest of scores.

Batley were out on their feet and Thomas took further advantage with a 40-metre burst through the middle to add a seventh try.

The Bulldogs' frustration boiled over as Dane Manning was sin-binned for a bust-up with Pryce, who was having his best game since returning to his home-town club.

But the agony was not over for the visitors. As the clocked ticked down, Campbell inflicted one final blow on his former employers with an eighth home try. It put the seal on a very satisfying afternoon for the rampaging Bulls.