Bradford Bulls left cursing defensive frailty (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Plenty of positives for Bradford Bulls but too many errors hand Castleford festive edge

6:10am Tuesday 27th December 2011 in Match Reports By Ross Heppenstall

Castleford Tigers 28, Bradford Bulls 18

Shaun Ainscough cursed anyone within earshot.

There were ten minutes remaining and the Bulls had just conceded a sixth try, the game well and truly beyond them.

Far too easily did Castleford carve open the Bradford defence down the left flank, leaving Ainscough exposed as Josh Griffin scampered over for his second of the match.

Ainscough, clearly disgusted, had a few choice words for his team-mates.

The Bulls wing, still with steam coming out of his ears, then went on to claim a fine individual try in the dying embers, displaying no little desire to outstrip a clutch of home defenders to score in the right corner.

Moments earlier Michael Platt had shown intelligence to cut infield from the right flank and usher Bryn Hargreaves under the posts with a perfectly-weighted pass.

From the ridiculous to the sublime – not an unfamiliar theme to Bulls followers who made the short trip along the M62.

There was much to be admired in the try inside the opening 40 seconds from Jason Crookes and Chev Walker’s touchdown shortly after the restart.

Yet throughout the 80 minutes too many penalties were conceded, too few tackles were made and not enough passes from a Bulls player found a team-mate.

Still, Potter could take plenty of positives from the performances of a clutch of young guns, such as Adam O’Brien, James Donaldson and John Bateman, and trialist Phil Joseph.

The Bulls led from the opening set, when Ben Jeffries sent Crookes over in the left corner for a try which Kyle Briggs could not convert.

O’Brien showed impressive maturity, constantly looking for openings from dummy half, before a delightful handling sequence in the tenth minute saw the ball worked from left to right and culminated in Ainscough knocking on just ten metres out.

Still, it was indicative of the Bulls’ early vibrancy as Joseph laid the tone with a succession of impressive hits alongside Hargreaves.

Castleford gradually steadied themselves and enjoyed a spell of sustained pressure midway through the first half.

Paul Sykes made three fine tackles to keep the Tigers at bay, before Griffin escaped the clutches of the Bulls defence down the left flank to score.

Sykes was shown a yellow card in the 20th minute for holding down and, shortly before the break, the hosts stretched the Bulls to breaking point down the left flank again as Josh Atkinson went over for a try which Griffin converted.

The Bulls, guilty of some sloppy handling, found themselves seriously under the cosh as the interval hooter sounded, before Walker finished off a fine move in the left corner just after the resumption.

Briggs could not convert and three minutes later Castleford struck their third try when Adam Milner found half-back Ben Johnston on halfway.

He threw a dummy which left Joseph for dead, before showing impressive pace to outstrip the Bradford defence for a fine individual effort.

A teasing grubber kick was then grounded by Steve Nash and Atkinson then had his second after several missed tackles.

With ten minutes remaining, Griffin sauntered clear to complete his brace and Jordan Thompson added the extras.

The Bulls, to their credit, refused to surrender and hit back through Hargreaves and Ainscough.

That was a major positive – as was the fact that the Bulls picked up no major injuries and that many of their key players will return to the fold in the coming weeks.

Bulls: Sykes, Ainscough, Platt, Walker, Crookes, Briggs, Jeffries, Hargreaves, O’Brien, Joseph, Sibbit, Olbison, Langley. Replacements: Donaldson, Addy, Bateman, Murphy, McAvoy, Payne.