Wolves rally to beat Bulls
Warrington staged a fine fightback to overturn a 12-point deficit and secure a thrilling 32-28 victory over Bradford.
Last Updated: 12/07/08 1:29pm
Warrington staged a fine fightback to overturn a 12-point deficit and secure a thrilling 32-28 victory over Bradford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Wolves trailed 12-0 and 24-12, but showed tremendous character to continue their Super League revival under the guidance of James Lowes.
The former Bulls hooker has now collected five wins from his six matches in charge and, on the back of their latest triumph, Warrington have now climbed above Wigan and into fourth in the table.
Bradford made a flying start and were 12 points to the good inside eight minutes, but could not build on that early advantage and ultimately slumped to a fifth defeat in seven games.
Lucky break
Their opening try owed much to a large slice of fortune as the returning Paul Deacon's kick took a deflection of Adrian Morley and landed perfectly for Andy Lynch who pounced to touch down.
Deacon added the extras and a second Bulls score was not long in arriving as Semi Tadulala broke clear down the left and cut inside a couple of defenders before passing inside for Chris Nero to power over.
Deacon again converted, but Martin Gleeson produced something special to drag the hosts back into it - the Great Britain international racing 90 metres to score under the posts after being sent clear by Matt King.
Winger Chris Riley came close to reducing the arrears further as he burst clear down the right but was denied by the retreating David Solomona.
Full-back Michael Platt looked to have set up Craig Kopczak for another Bulls score, but was denied by the video ref for an earlier obstruction.
Tadulala did then claim a third Bradford try as he rose above the static Riley to claim a high ball at the second attempt and touch down - Deacon again kicked the extras.
But the hosts were back within six at the break as Gleeson stretched out to score with Hicks adding his second conversion.
The visitors reopened their 12-point advantage as the impressive Platt held off two would-be tacklers to get his name on the scoresheet.
Wolves rally
However, if Bradford thought they had broken the Wolves they were proved wrong as Hicks accepted a pass from Lee Briers to weave his way over for his 13th try of the season.
They were level when King accepted a superb pass from Michael Monaghan to burst through the line and touch down and moved ahead when Louis Anderson went over - although it looked debatable as to whether the New Zealander properly grounded the ball.
Hicks once again converted and added a penalty as Solomona was sinbinned for a late hit on Briers.
Bradford responded when Jamie Langley broke clear to set up Ben Jeffries who finished neatly, but with Deacon missing the conversion, Warrington were able to run down the clock.