A point lost or a point gained?

Drawing with a score of 24 against Hull, the Bulls were probably just relieved to be on the team bus and heading out of the Boulevard car park.

It means they can now focus fully on what's been privately dominating thoughts for three week - their bid to notch up back-to-back Challenge Cup successes at Twickenham on Saturday.

"The players feel like it's a point lost but I've had to tell them that it was a great point gained," said coach Brian Noble.

"We toughed it out and showed a lot of character. I'm proud of them.

"We got beaten here last year and everybody knows how tough it was going to be so I'm highly delighted. Rugby league won again. I thought it was a fantastic match and we got a tough work-out."

Messrs Rigon (ankle), Spruce (shoulder) and Gilmour (terrible headache!) will vouch for that last remark but with two points in the bag they probably wouldn't have ached quite as much travelling home.

Having battled away bravely in the first half without finding any sort of rhythm they suddenly clicked into gear on the re-start and with ten minutes remaining Hull looked well beaten at 24-12.

Substitute Paul Deacon pulled the strings as the big pack led by the rampaging Joe Vagana laid the platform for what looked like a valuable win against a side who look a strong bet for a top-five finish.

First Deacon's neat grubber kept the pressure on and from the resulting drop-out there was a clear reminder of what has taken the Bulls to Twickenham.

Paul Anderson's drive to the posts got the home side on the back foot and a clever release allowed Lowes and Robbie Paul to send Mike Forshaw over on an angled run.

Then, with Lee Radford adding more thrust from the bench against his hometown club, Deacon fired out a fine long pass and emergency centre Daniel Gartner timed his run perfectly to add his second of the night.

Henry Paul then completed an-other 100 per cent kicking haul with his sixth and it was Lon-don here we come.

But Lee Jackson's bizzare attempt at a tap penalty turned an incident packed game on it's head.

The experienced hooker played the ball too firmly with his boot on the run but the looping ball bounced kindly for the home side and when Leon Pryce couldn't gather it in Hull skip-per Tony Grimaldi was on hand to give his side a timely lift.

In truth several other marginal decision had gone against the home side with Logan Campbell being soon after the break and lively prop Steve Craven being ruled to have grounded just short.

So on the balance of player overall there was some justice when Tony Smith went in off Paul although on a busy night for the officials there was some doubt about the pass and the grounding as Henry Paul at-tempted to kick the ball from the scrum half's grasp.

Bu the Kiwi's attempts to have the final say ended in a rear failure with the boot as he dragged a straight drop goal attempt wide to show he's only human after all.

A draw seemed about right though.

The Bulls were second best for much of the first half and had their bit of good fortune too when Gartner helped give them a 10-8 half-time advantage.

The big second-rower provided an action replay of Shane Rigon's effort against Wigan five days earlier when he picked himself up off the floor to score after being temporarily halted by Paul Cooke's tackle.

Mr Cummings had waved Gartner on but then took the strange decision to go the the video referee who took an age before ruling that the Aussie had not been held.

Gartner then gave Pryce the sort of chance he thrived on over Easter but he backed his pace down the flank and the pacy Steve Prescott did the necessary.

Lee Gilmour's brief Bulls career was then summed up as he broke impressively over 40 metres but then lost his balance and was left nursing a sore head as Jason Smith felled him with a high shot which went unpunished.

The former Wigan man played not further part and the Bulls suffered further disruption with Rigon damaging an ankle mid-way through the second period.

It left the Bulls with a real patched-up look as Henry Paul switched to full-back allowing Stuart Spruce to cover on the wing and Gartner filled Rigon's shoes.

But they coped admirably to build a winning lead and if they get in the same position next week against Saints it's doubtful they'll left THEM off the hook as easily.