Michael Platt’s hoping more firm pitches will see him soften up more Super League opponents.

The Bulls full-back has had some critics for his up-and-down form during three years at Odsal.

He has been prone to the odd gaffe but delivered possibly his finest performance yet at Castleford with a host of electrifying runs showing just what he is capable of.

Platt hit some great angles, found quality passes, finished off a fine try and caused the Tigers all sorts of problems while proving solid as a rock at the back.

“With the pitches firming up and it being a good, dry surface, it suited me down to the ground,” he explained.

“It was hard and fast and you can link up a bit more when it’s like that.

“You can see a play breaking and you can actually get to it when you should be there.

“When it’s been boggy it can take a few seconds extra but even just a split second can make all the difference.

“Now though you can steam into the line at the right time and that happened a bit on Sunday. It’s good and I’m enjoying it.”

Platt, 25, isn’t getting carried away though and said: “It was a decent game from me but there is a lot more to come .

“It has definitely improved my confidence. It’s always good to play well and get a bit of pressure off but at the same time you can’t forget the knockers are just around the corner.

“I’ll take each week as it comes. We all want to play well for the team, our team-mates and mainly our coach.”

Boss Steve McNamara was left dumbfounded after his side threw away a lead at The Jungle.

Platt accepts the players were at a fault following the madness of conceding 18 points in ten minutes at the end.

“It was a bit of a freak, weird one,” he said.

“At 26-10, I’m thinking let’s really turn the screw and give our fans something to cheer about.

“I thought we’d put Cas to bed well and truly but we missed the kick-off, it bounced into touch and that gave them a sniff.

“We weren’t professional enough and we need to address that. It wasn’t good enough.”

Having won just once this year, the Ireland international concedes heads did drop when Cas started their comeback and they needed to be stronger.

“It makes us a little edgy and it does come onto the pitch,” he said.

“It makes us all nervous and we can feel the fans’ getting on our back but we should be able to overcome that as we are all professionals.

“If we’d have had four or five wins under our belt, maybe that would have made a difference and we’d have come away with a victory.

“But we have to hold our hands up and accept we weren’t good enough. It was down to the players on the pitch, no one else.”

They aim to start making up for that capitulation when they head to Catalans Dragons in Sunday’s Challenge Cup tie.

Bradford’s sole victory so far came there a fortnight ago and they remain unbeaten in Perpignan.

But Platt - whose try against former club Castleford was his first since last July - warned: “Our record there doesn’t mean anything.

“We can‘t take anything for granted.

“Catalans have got some of their better players coming back this week too and it’ll be a tough game.

“But we want to get through and kick on in the cup so hopefully we’ll go there and get another win.”