Halifax Blue Sox 18, Bradford Bulls 28; Nigel Askham reports from The Shay.
Flashes of individual brilliance from skipper Robbie Paul shone through an error strewn Challenge Cup quarter-final which rarely lifted above the mediocre.
The Kiwi scrum half set his side on their way with a stunning try, bringing back memories of his stunning support play which lit up the 1996 Wembley final, and laid on another for Mike Forshaw to quell fears of a serious Blue Sox fightback with a wonder pass.
But sadly while there was great encouragement in his performance, the squad won't be viewing the video with much satisfaction today considering the standards they have set in the opening weeks of the campaign.
"We are going to the semi-final, but we will need to play better than that," admitted coach Matthew Elliott, whose frustration was highlighted in the way he tossed aside his headset on the final hooter.
"It is a nice position to be in when you are not happy with your team's performance, but you are doing it from a winning dressing room," he admitted.
"But I was disappointed with the way we played, and when you perform like that it looks like you were under-prepared, but we certainly weren't."
It was even more surprising considering Elliott had the luxury of being able to field the same side for the third successive game, and he conceded: "Our respect for possession was poor and our shape on attack was even worse. We were running into each other and around each other and some of it was embarrassing."
After a terrible opening by both sides, by half-time at least the Bulls looked to have established some sense of order to their game and a 16-0 lead provided the perfect platform to turn on the style in the second period.
Brian McDermott's superb pass had released Paul for his dazzling effort, and 'Interception man' Michael Withers then struck five minutes before the break by streaking away from halfway after Greg Florimo's pass had bounced the Bulls' top try-scorer's way off Damian Gibson's chest.
But on the re-start Stuart Spruce and Leon Pryce allowed Andrew Dunemann's pass to bounce and straight into the hands of inspirational player-coach Gary Mercer.
Robbie Paul then stepped up to seemingly put the Bulls back on track with a superb crossfield run which had the Blue Sox on the back foot before an excellent pass around the tackler paved the way perfectly for Forshaw.
They just couldn't put their game together consistently though and Halifax's fighting qualities which have accounted for Castleford and Hull in recent weeks shone through right to the end.
Even when Stuart Fielden had capped another great effort against his hometown club by hammering final nail in their coffin ten minutes from they still refused to lie down and had the final say when hooker Paul Rowley made extremely light work of a defence which generally had an off-day after keeping their line intact in the opening two rounds.
Somewhat strangely Mercer felt his side were unlucky and is already looking forward to his next chance to lock horns with the Bulls.
"Bradford are a good side but good sides can be beaten," he said. "We were just a couple of players short but next time they come here it will be a different story. I know I have still got to complete the squad here but I wish we could play Bradford Bulls every week. I know we can beat them."
You had to admire their fighting spirit, which he epitomises, but in truth they never threatened an upset and they'll be fortunate to find the Bulls in such a generous mood again.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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