Warington Wolves 18, Bradford Bulls 14 - You don't know what you're doing", came the chant from the large travelling Bulls army near the end of another Wilderspool nightmare.

One trusts they were referring to a shaky spell from referee Stuart Cummings but in truth it might have been more usefully directed at the Super League leaders after a simply woeful effort.

There were clearly some distractions this week with coach Brian Noble and four of Saturday night's line-up on England duty in midweek but it couldn't go near to explaining a display which puts their Grand Final credentials under even closer scrutiny.

They still top the table on points difference but this was clearly a significant setback in their bid to finish in top spot and give themselves the simplest route to Old Trafford.

Perhaps, more importantly though, it provided further evidence of the side's frailties when the going gets tough.

They can physically dominate the vast majority of sides in the competition but when the "Bully-boy" tactics don't work the rest of the game plan doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny.

When Matthew Elliott's 1997 title winning side got behind on the scoreboard it invariably had the leadership skills of Graeme Bradley and Jimmy Lowes to pull it through.

But you searched in vain for those qualities at Wilderspool as panic and frustration set in as two valuable points were allowed to slip away against a depleted Wolves side who offered stacks of enthusiasm but, quite frankly, little else to trouble a side packed with internationals.

Trailing 14-10, the Bulls finally stopped spilling possession for long enough in the final quarter to mount some pressure.

And they appeared to have played their get out of jail card when Daniel Gartner emerged from a personal horror spell to release Robbie Paul.

The Bulls skipper was hauled down from behind by the pacy Alan Hunte but they at last showed some composure on the night as Mick Withers sent substitute Lee Radford crashing over.

But an out-of-sorts Henry Paul had been substituted earlier and stand-in kicker Mick Withers, who struggled more than most to keep his feet in the slippy conditions, hit the deck again as his attempt to edge the Bulls ahead drifted wide.

Any other result than a Wolves win would have been a total injustice though and they duly got their reward with little more than a minute left on the clock.

One time Odsal target Toa Kohe-Love produced the sort of craft the Bulls three-quarters just couldn't match to find Rob Smyth and he skipped away from the unhappy Withers on the touchline to spark a memorable celebration on and off the field.

Angry Bulls fans chose that moment to head home but in truth you couldn't really have blamed them for heading for a Saturday night pint much earlier! Never at any stage did the Bulls come close to producing the sort of running and handling which had seen top 800 points in the competition prior to kick-off.

Instead they were knocked completely off their stride by the Wolves' raw aggression and had clearly not learnt the lesson of the corresponding game last season when they tossed away a big half-time lead.

Heavy showers gave them some excuse for a first-half effort littered with handling errors but there was no noticeable improvement after the break even with the sun on their backs.

With big men Paul Anderson and Joe Vagana making little headway down the middle and Jamie Peacock and Stuart Fielden in the stand, the Bulls' attacking work became more and more frought and the side's body language increasingly depressing by the minute.

Bulls prop Brian McDermott, pictured, found his way blocked by Steve McCurrie (left) and Tawera Nikau.Their only other success came from Henry Paul's neat first half grubber which bounced off a post and was well claimed by brother Robbie.

But Nathan McAvoy wasted another great early chance with some indecision and it all went very much downhill after that.