Joy and relief as Bradford Bulls back on the up with promotion

PHASE one of the Bradford Bulls resurrection is complete.

Rewriting history, as proud Bradfordian Steve Crossley has spelled out to the players, is underway.

Odsal can wave off West Wales and welcome Widnes back for next year as the Bulls return to the Championship.

Promotion at the first attempt – a must before the fixture list had even been drawn up – was secured fittingly against the one side the Bulls had failed to beat over the League One regular season.

Workington had the feather in the cap of winning both home and away – but the Bulls clinched the one that mattered yesterday.

Jy Hitchcox’s hat-trick inspired them to a 27-8 success, despite missing six kicks along the way.

Joy ensued, no doubt coupled with relief, as John Kear’s side booked their slot alongside York in the second tier.

There’s no understating how important getting straight back up means. The alternative, another year scrapping along with the expansion teams such as Hemel and Coventry, would have been unthinkable.

The Bulls had lined up the big guns in the build-up. Shontayne Hape, Joe Vagana and Lesley Vainikolo popped up on social media to stir the fans with reminders of greater days.

Victory over Workington was essential for the dream of one day rekindling those special moments.

John Kear made one change from the side that had whitewashed Oldham 47-0 in the semi-final – a performance he described as their best of the season.

The head coach had talked up Tuoyo Egodo’s outside chances of recovering from injury. But it was no more than a few mind games with the Castleford centre diagnosed with a torn hamstring.

His absence meant another chance for Ross Oakes, while Jordan Lilley kept out Sam Hallas at hooker after a late call.

The Bulls went for muscle on the bench, learning the lesson of the league loss two months before when they were “old-manned” by Workington’s heavy guns down the middle.

The hosts needed only four minutes to make their mark.

Lilley nearly caught out the visitors with a scamper from dummy half before Mikey Wood got smothered by four men short of the line.

The ball was swiftly moved right as Workington struggled to get back to cover and Hitchcox acrobatically finished in the corner to stretch his try-scoring streak to a fifth game.

The Australian also helped out defensively as the Bulls dragged winger Scott Rooke into touch from their first attacking foray.

A sweeping set took the Bulls from one end to the other but Ethan Ryan could not gather Dane Chisholm’s angled kick.

Workington had rattled the Bulls out of their stride in the previous meetings and there was a bit of that again as the teams indulged in some argy-bargy. The hosts were also down to 12 men after Matty Garside was sinbinned for dissent.

Workington looked to slow the play down with Stevie Scholey getting treatment – and the loose forward appeared to catch Lilley with a sly trip while on the ground.

The Bulls looked to get the ball wide and Hitchcox and Elliot Minchella had the crowd roaring with an exchange of passes down the right wing.

Workington had failed to make their extra-man count and when Scott Rooke did manage to go over, it was chalked off for a forward pass.

They suffered another blow when Oliver Wilkes had to be helped off injured but Fuifui Moimoi beefed up the bulk in the forwards – and made an instant impression on Ryan.

Workington finally got on the scoreboard with a Carl Forber penalty as the Bulls grew frustrated over a couple of questionable calls.

That sense of injustice increased when Elliott Miller escaped any punishment after appearing to swing a right hook at Ross Peltier.

But Peltier had his revenge with an angled run to take the Bulls towards the line. Then George Flanagan bravely burrowed in from dummy half through three defenders.

Joe Keyes surprisingly fluffed the conversion – but made instant amends with a sensational finish to give the Bulls some valuable breathing space.

Spotting a gap in defence, Keyes dropped the shoulder 40 metres out and sprinted away to score. Chisholm took on the kicking duties but once again failed with the extras.

With a 10-point half-time advantage, the Bulls had risen above Workington’s attempts to drag them into a street fight.

And they came out for an early score to potentially put the game to bed. But instead strong goal-line defence kept them out and Workington began to find their feet again.

An error from Gregg McNally covering a grubber kick gave Town an opportunity that they grabbed.

Andrew Dawson was held up over the line but Workington came again and Ryan paid the price for not reacting to Jamie Doran’s bouncing kick. The winger fatally let it go and Miller gambled to touch down.

Forber’s conversion cut the gap to four points and the outcome was suddenly back in the balance.

Minchella thought he had restored the advantage but it was whistled off for a questionable two-on-one steal, increasing the public frustration with referee Marcus Griffiths.

But there was no denying the well-worked move which set up Hitchcox for his second try after 63 minutes. The ball was switched through the hands of Keyes, McNally and Ash Gibson before he plunged in.

Chisholm, who’d had a mixed bag of a game, then nailed the most difficult conversion of the lot from the touchline.

He followed up with a drop goal and Workington’s task got even tougher with a red card for Moimoi after an awful tackle on Liam Kirk. The Tongan had been walking a tightrope from the start with his antics.

The noise level kicked up with the finish line in sight – even if Chisholm caused more groans with yet another miss from a penalty almost right in front.

But the chant soon changed to “we are going up” as Hitchcox clinched his hat-trick to top off a superb individual display on both sides of the ball.

And there was time for one final score as Chisholm galloped through from 30 metres to say goodbye to League One in style.

BULLS: McNally 7, Ryan 7, Gibson 7, Oakes 7, Hitchcox 9, Keyes 7, Chisholm 7, Kirk 7, Lilley 7, Crossley 7, Garside 7, Minchella 7, Wood 7. Interchange: Green 7, Flanagan 8, Storton 7, Peltier 7.

WORKINGTON: Mellor 7, Hambley 6, Miller 6, Morris 6, Rooke 5, Doran 6, Forber 6, Wilkes 6, Penkywicz 6, Dickinson 7, Olstrom 6, Moore 6, Scholey 6. Interchange: Newton 6, Curwen 6, Dawson 6, Moimoi 6.