Paul Deacon today warned his Bulls team-mates to prepare for a Wigan backlash.

The two sides go head-to-head at Odsal on Friday night with both eager to triumph for hugely different reasons.

Having lost against St Helens last weekend, only their first defeat in 19 matches, Bradford are demanding an immediate return to form.

Meanwhile, their crisis-torn opponents endured a fifth beating in just six outings at Castleford to leave the traditional giants slumped joint bottom of Super League.

The pressure is mounting on under-fire Wigan boss Ian Millward and they need something quick to stop the rot.

They will be targeting the champions after the Bulls suffered a hammering at Knowsley Road, and scrum half Deacon admitted: "This is now a very dangerous fixture.

"Wigan are under the cosh having lost again against Cas. They are a massive club that expects results and will come here desperate to get back on track.

"They will have seen our defeat and think they can do the same and they will be dangerous despite what the results say."

But the Great Britain ace - who hails from Wigan - insists there is no panic in the Bulls camp having seen their proud record destroyed by Saints.

"It's not the end of the world - we learned that last season," added Deacon. "It is our first loss but we take it on the chin and start again.

"We just need to look at what we did right at Saints and what we did wrong.

"We must get our defensive wall back and win the ground, get on the front foot again and cut out the penalties."