Bradford Bulls: Bears mauling gets Workington woe out of system

NORMAL service was resumed at Odsal as the Bulls enjoyed a boot-filling exercise yesterday.

John Kear’s men plundered ten tries to put Coventry to the sword.

It could have been more – they also had two ruled out and other chances went begging with the odd handling mistake.

Victory was to be expected against one of the division’s minnows but the woes of Workington, that had festered all week, were washed out of the system.

“Time to put a few things right from last week” was the pre-match message from Steve Crossley, who had called the efforts at Derwent Park “soft and dumb”.

The pack warrior, more than anyone, did that to the letter.

Nobody within the dressing room had disagreed with his assessment of that first defeat in Cumbria.

John Kear had dismissed the bullish talk of his team going all year unbeaten as “absolute nonsense”.

And he was impressed with the straight-talking among the squad that had followed that sloppy one-point loss.

It was a slap-in-the-face reminder that reputations count for nothing in a league of part-time opposition and the Bulls were in no mood to offer anything up in Coventry’s first competitive visit to Odsal.

A decade ago it would have been impossible to imagine the Midlanders ever facing Bradford at the same level.

But as they mark 20 years in existence, Tom Tsang’s side were determined to enjoy their opportunity on a stage that has housed some of the sport’s greatest names.

The pre-match look at the pitch was accompanied with a few mobile phones as the players recorded their surroundings.

For the Bulls, though, it was a case of getting the job done with the minimum of fuss.

Loan signings Jy Hitchcox and James Laithwaite came straight into the side. But with an eye on next week’s Challenge Cup duel with Warrington, Ross Peltier rested his foot injury.

As Kear tinkered with his options, there were also starts for Liam Kirk and Vila Halifihi – the hooker had nearly joined Coventry a couple of years ago when the clubs had been considering a link-up.

The Bulls were on the board inside the first three minutes, Liam Johnson touching down a grubber kick from Joe Keyes.

A second try soon followed from a crisp passing movement, the ball passing through five sets of hands before Ashley Gibson zipped over in the corner.

Ethan Ryan was immediately denied another by referee Billy Pearson, even though it appeared Dane Chisholm’s booming kick had bounced inbounds before he got the touch.

Coventry tried to spread the ball about but lacked a cutting edge to find a way through the Bulls defence.

And they fell further behind midway through the half after Keyes and Johnson forced Ben Stead out behind his own line. The Bulls took full advantage of the Coventry drop-out and Hitchcox went in under the posts for his first score.

Coventry needed something to break their way – and got it when Brandon Pickersgill completely lost his footing trying to deal with a bouncing bomb from Paul Emmanuelli.

The Bears stand-off seized the chance to field his own rebound and launched a slick attack as James Mason and Kameron Pearce-Paul worked the ball wide for Harry Chapman to finish. Stead’s superb touchline kick tacked on the extras.

Keyes had another try ruled out by the officials as he looked to ground a cleverly-bending kick from Chisholm. But newly-arrived George Flanagan wasted no time in getting on the scoresheet, the hooker ploughing over near the corner from dummy half.

Again, there were more errors about the Bulls’ play than Kear would have liked, although the pitch was a bit slippy in places.

But Coventry were struggling to withstand their attacks as Johnson grabbed his second just before the half-time buzzer with an extravagant finish.

The Bears were there for the taking if Bradford kept their act together – and it needed only two minutes of the second half before they were over again.

Keyes was the architect with a flat kick; Chapman flapped at it and Ethan Ryan was alert to the free ball to stretch over and score.

Dalton Grant was held up on his back by Dante Morley-Samuels. But the respite was only brief for Coventry as Hitchcox gathered a crossfield kick to bag his second try.

Stead’s 40/20 gave the Bears an opportunity to hit back and Pickersgill was forced to flick the ball behind for another goalline drop-out. But Coventry’s pressure came to nothing.

Crossley’s departure after another hour’s shift earned loud applause from the wet Odsal faithful. He had battered the Bears into submission at times.

But there was concern to see Chisholm soon following him off with a tweaked hamstring after getting treatment on his right leg.

Not that it stopped the Bulls in their stride and they notched their eighth try seconds later, Flanagan grabbing a trademark effort from dummy half and burrowing in under the posts.

A few Coventry players looked out on their feet as the gap in fitness between the sides became more apparent in the closing stages.

Gaps were springing up in the Bears’ defence as the Bulls cashed in to pile on the misery.

Keyes, whose kicking from the tee was a bit hit and miss, made no mistake to finish another swift move.

But the Bulls saved the best until last.

Elliot Minchella had been a patient spectator on the sidelines for the first hour until Kear decided that Crossley’s impressive race was run.

But he certainly made an impact in his short time on the field.

Minchella took possession on his own 40-metre line and seized the opening, racing the rest of the field past some weary blue shirts to put the lid on a convincing victory.

Desperate defence just about stopped him from repeating the trick in the closing seconds as Coventry held on to respectability.

For the Bulls, it was about getting back on track for the greater challenges to follow against Warrington and then the real biggie at title rivals Doncaster in a fortnight.