Wolves come unstuck at Odsal
Bradford recorded their second successive win in Super League, beating Warrington 23-10 at the Grattan Odsal Stadium.
Last Updated: 16/03/08 4:47pm
Bradford recorded their second successive win in Super League, beating Warrington 23-10 at the Grattan Odsal Stadium.
Tries from Paul Sykes, Ben Jeffries and Sam Burgess and some solid kicking from Paul Deacon helped the Bulls to earn their third win after a stuttering start to the campaign.
Chris Hicks and Paul Johnson replied for Warrington but they were unable to join champions Leeds at the top of the table as they fell to their second defeat.
As well as kicking five goals and one drop-goal, Deacon provided a superb grubber kick for Burgess' try just before half time.
Warrington simply had no answer to Deacon's kicking game - despite including Matt King, their star centre who was concussed by Richard Mathers' high tackle last week.
Four out
Bradford were missing injured quartet Glenn Morrison, Michael Platt, Jamie Langley and Joe Vagana - but they were on top from the start.
Lee Briers dropped Deacon's swirling kick-off, and the Bulls were quick to capitalise when Deacon booted over a simple penalty after Warrington were caught offside in the next set.
Bradford extended their lead when Terry Newton and Jeffries combined to send Sykes through for his fifth try of the campaign.
But the visitors quickly responded. Louis Anderson's superb pass gave his brother Vinnie enough space to feed Paul Johnson, but the Wolves struggled to make any further impact.
Instead, Burgess dived on to the loose ball after Michael Monaghan deflected Deacon's grubber to give the hosts an eight-point lead at half time.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first, Deacon notching a 40-metre penalty in the opening minute before adding another when Ben Westwood was penalised for a dangerous tackle.
Warrington clawed back some respect when Chris Hicks, who has scored in every round of Super League this season, raced on to Briers' clever kick to the corner.
Hicks' try set up a tense finish, despite Briers missing the touchline conversion.
But Jeffries completed the win with a 70-metre burst, after intercepting King's wayward pass.