AN ATTRITIONAL game of rugby league saw Bulls fall flat on their faces at Odsal yet again, as they crashed to a 20-6 home defeat to the York City Knights.
Bulls could count themselves unlucky to be 4-0 behind at the break, with referee Robert Hicks missing what looked to be a blatant forward pass from Matty Marsh for Chris Clarkson to score.
And Bradford started the second half brightly, with Joe Burton almost running in from miles out, and the subsequent professional foul seeing Marsh sin-binned.
But Bulls fell away after that, as a dreadful error allowed Will Jubb in to score, before Brendan O’Hagan and Danny Kirmond made the game safe.
Elliot Hall’s last-gasp try was the scantest of consolations, with Bulls left down in eighth place following their sixth league defeat from 11 games this season.
It was a scrappy opening, and Bulls nearly got on the scoresheet first in bizarre circumstances.
Jordan Lilley's high kick ended up being knocked back to him and he looked to run in to score, but Hicks pulled the play back for a narrow offside.
There were some handbags in the middle of the field after Sam Hallas reacted to a challenge from Jacob Ogden.
That came back to haunt Bulls a few minutes later, when Hallas produced a high shot on his antagonist and was sent to the sin-bin.
A man down, Bulls were forced into brilliant defence twice to keep York out.
But Bulls produced some decent play with 12 men. Former Bradford man Joe Brown intercepted and knocked on, but the alternative was a near-certain try for Kieran Gill or Burton.
Kirmond almost bundled over for York, with an over-eager Dec Patton conceding a penalty, but great defence kept York out when they thought they were over, with Lilley and Chester Butler both involved.
With Bulls back up to their full complement, Gill fed Burton, but the youngster was held up over the line.
Elliot Kear then failed to gather a simple flat kick inside his own 20 metre line, and that eventually proved costly, as York made the most of their field position, Clarkson scoring as Hicks somehow missed that errant pass.
The conversion was missed from the touchline by Liam Harris, but Bulls struggled to regroup, as Lilley and Kear got in a tangle and conceded a goal-line dropout.
A York knock on, forced by Patton, saw AJ Wallace and Butler go close, but the latter injured his sternum in the tackle and had to be helped off.
Bulls started the second half brightly, and after Gill was held up just short, Burton pounced on a loose ball and came agonisingly close to scoring after that 80-metre run, which saw Marsh sent to the bin.
Ant Walker almost barrelled over against York’s 12 men immediately afterwards and then Bulls had numbers on the left, but Gill made a crucial fumble.
His next handling error was even more costly.
A Bulls attack broke down on halfway, and after Patton’s loose pass to Gill, the latter made the situation worse by kicking the ball back into the middle and then fumbled trying to retrieve that.
The ball was scooped up for Jubb, who ran through, evaded Lilley's tackle, and flew over for an unconverted score.
Lilley decided to pass on halfway despite being clean through, before Matty Dawson-Jones blew a fresh set of six by allowing himself to be dragged into touch.
And soon after, it was game over.
O'Hagan swayed one way, and then the other, before a quick change of pace. But that Bulls defence was so soft in the middle, gifting him a path through to fly over just to the right of the posts.
Jamie Ellis converted after Harris’ earlier misses, and York went 14-0 in front.
Ellis was then at it defensively.
Burton thought he was in on the left after Gill passed the ball out wide, following a great break from Lilley, but Ellis just got the young winger's foot into touch before he crossed the whitewash, leaving Bulls still scoreless.
It soon got worse, with Wallace limping off and then Kirmond breaking through a half-tackle 30 metres out.
Using his pace and power, he scythed through, before crashing over underneath the posts for Ellis to convert.
Following a late penalty, Bulls got what was barely a consolation score, as Hall wriggled through a couple of tackles to go over in the left corner, with Patton nailing a superb touchline kick.
Still only one league win at Odsal all season for Bulls, as their alarming run at the "Wembley of the North" goes on.
Bulls: Kear, Burton, Dawson-Jones, Gill, Hall, Patton, Lilley, Baldwinson, Doyle, Crossley, Butler, Wallace, Hallas.
Interchanges: England, Mustapha, Scurr, Walker.
York: Marsh, Brown, Glover, Ogden, Oakes, O'Hagan, Harris, Matongo, Jubb, Dixon, Clarkson, Kirmond, Thompson.
Interchanges: Ellis, Teanby, Stock, Porter.
Bulls man of the match: AJ Wallace.
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