The overwhelming reaction from assistant coach Darrel Shelford to last night's performance by Bradford Bulls was one of relief.

The Super League leaders gained a flattering 36-18 success over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, but their two to one points ratio was only achieved by three tries inside the last ten minutes.

New Zealander Shelford, standing in for head coach Brian Noble, who was on assistant duties with Great Britain Down Under, admitted: "We always knew it was going to be a tough match, but unfortunately we did not control the ball as well as we anticipated.

"We had to defend a lot and it was pretty much trouble throughout the game. Wakefield are an enthusiastic side and I was worried right up until the last ten minutes because we were not playing as well as we could have and they always had that opportunity to break away."

Shelford added: "They seem to compete very well against the top teams and struggle against the lower ones, which is something their coach Peter Roe noted last week.

"They just have to find some consistency, and if they do they will be out of the relegation zone.

"But fortunately we got it together, started controlling the ball and completing sets of six and got the late points."

The clash of top versus bottom attracted a miserly 8,288 supporters - the lowest crowd of the season at Valley Parade.

Shelford said: "There just didn't seem to be any atmosphere, which was disappointing, but we didn't start the game as we should have and we'll speak about that this weekend." The club's skills coach revealed: "We had trained really well all week and I expected a bit more out of the players.

"But we got the two points, which was the aim of the game, and we finished the match off really well so there were some positives for us to take out of it."

Full back Michael Withers - he took the goal kicks in place of the injured Paul Deacon - won the spectators' mobile phone text man of the match award. But Shelford thought loose forward Mike Forshaw was more influential.

"Mike sparked us up a bit," said Shelford. "He is a non-stop sort of player and he basically got us going the way we wanted too after the loss of James Lowes."

The hooker got a bang on his left knee in the 28th minute and was replaced by Rob Parker, but it will take a few days to ascertain how serious the injury is.