Bradford Bulls 30 Castleford Tigers 10: Deep in the first-half, both starting stand-offs left the field in contrasting ways.

Danny Orr was carried off by two members of the Castleford medical staff looking to be suffering from some form of concussion - he was replaced.

Leon Pryce, meanwhile, was red-carded by referee Steve Ganson for taking out his Great Britain international colleague with a late hit, thought to be an elbow, and walked off alone.

And it was the way in which these two sides coped with their losses which was to prove decisive on an evening of inconsistent refereeing, short tempers and abysmal weather.

With scrum half Mitch Healey having already limped off just minutes before the incident which led to Bradford's first expulsion of the season, the Tigers were robbed of their half-back pairing with a full 50 minutes left.

Although Healey was to return, Graham Steadman's men failed to cope with the loss and were never able to take full advantage of their numerical advantage.

While for the third consecutive game, and again in difficult conditions, the Bulls defence held firm against the odds.

The Bulls manfully coped with just 12 men to first contain and then crush Castleford with yet another powerful second-half display that just about made up for the torrential rain that was to hit Odsal in the game's dying minutes.

It was win number 11 on the bounce and the victory, achieved in adversity, was yet another sign that the Bulls are the side to beat in Super League VIII - without actually 'hitting their straps'.

"I thought we played extremely well with 12 men. I thought we were pretty good," said Brian Noble, whose refusal to comment on referee Ganson's performance spoke volumes.

"In fact there were some things we did in the second half that we could have done in the first.

"We didn't panic and the 12 men defended really well. In the end we were comfortable, we rolled our subs around and we were pretty good."

The strength in depth of the side was again demonstrated with Richard Moore more than coping in his first start of the year while Joe Vagana performed the prop heroics in Stuart Fielden's absence.

Mike Forshaw was at last rested following his arm injury and Lee Gilmour, the Bulls' Mr Versatile, went in at loose forward.

Heavy rain ensured that even the pre-match parading of the Challenge Cup wasn't going to pull in massive crowds, but the best part of 15,000 still turned out to witness the Bulls maintain their grip on second place in Super League.

And from the first hooter, Noble's men were in control. A high tackle on Moore, and the first of half-a-dozen extra penalties for dissent, let Paul Deacon give the Bulls an early lead.

Waine, cousin of Leon, ensured it was going to be a tough day for the Pryce family letting a Deacon kick under his foot for a 40/20 in one of a number of errors by the winger.

Only fumbles by the wide men on either side of the pitch let the Tigers off an early mauling as Bradford failed to convert their significant early pressure.

But it was Steadman's men who took the lead when yet another penalty, this time for not getting square at the play the ball, gave the visitors field position which Michael Smith turned into four points when he forced his way over from close range.

Robbie Paul, in his favoured full back position, was then trapped on two occasions by Ryan Hudson kicks in his in-goal area as the Bulls were put under strain of their own.

Once again they proved the defensive systems are now working, defending three consecutive sets before Waine Pryce knocked-on.

Bradford then showed the Tigers how to convert, Deacon dummied a kick to break the line then handed to Leon Pryce surging from behind.

The stand off looked to have wasted the chance by ignoring the two men open inside, but instead gave it to Tevita Vaikona to power home on the outside for his sixth score of the season.

And just three minutes later his seventh arrived.

Pryce again broke the line and went outside to Scott Naylor who wasn't there. But the ball bouncedkindly at Vaikon a's feet, the flying Tongan cut inside and powered through what remained of the Tigers defence to get over. Deacon found the kicking boots that were missing at the JJB Stadium last week and converted once more.

Then came the dismissal of Pryce for taking out Orr - how much was elbow and how much arm will be discovered by the RFL disciplinary in the next few days.

Castleford took two points immediately with a penalty but Deacon pulled back two points of his own after another off-side to leave the game poised at 16-8 at the break.

Unsurprisingly it was a typical Bradford second-half with the visitors overwhelmed by the power of the home side, albeit only 12 of them.

A couple of penalties were missed by either side before Bartrim struck his last points of the day after 51 minutes when Rob Parker was penalised for a play the ball offence.

Big Joe Vagana returned for his second tour of duty and it was game over.

On the last tackle in the 55th minutes, Lowes went inside to the big Kiwi who caught the ball and rotated 180 degrees to crash over.

He nearly turned villain straight away, however,making Paul knock on with an impossible off-load straight from the kick-off but a Karl Pratt tackle saved the day and amends were made five minutes later.

Vagana burst through the tiring defence before off-loading to his skipper who then handed it to Deacon to dive under the posts to settle the encounter.

The importance of defence was once again showed when Hape made a superb last-ditch tackle to wrap up Waine Pryce, who was attempting to redeem himself with a mazy run that left Parker and Vagana on the floor.

A couple of points from Deacon after Hudson had swung for him and that was that.

Bradford survived the loss of Pryce, and the torrential rain, to keep up the momentum of their Cardiff victory and their winning streak alive.