Bradford Bulls hooker James Lowes succeeded in having his two-match suspension halved when he appealed to the Rugby Football League last night.

The Great Britain international was banned for two games after being sent off during the 28-12 defeat by Wigan last Friday for using abusive language to referee Stuart Cummings.

Lowes' fine of £250 - on top of a club fine - stays and the hooker will have to sit out tomorrow's Super League game at Salford, which Bulls coach Matthew Elliott is billing as their most important of the season so far.

However, he will now be available for the home clash with Huddersfield Giants a week tomorrow.

Lowes' ban simply adds to Elliott's selection headaches.

Matt Calland faces a late fitness test on a hamstring injury, but Bulls hope Shaun Edwards will return.

Definitely out though are Brian McDermott and Sonny Nickle, so depleted Bulls may have to bank on youngsters Stuart Fielden and Paul Deacon.

Four defeats in their opening ten games have left Bulls with little room for manoeuvre in their quest for a top-three spot, and Elliott knows the pressure is on as the competition reaches the halfway point this weekend.

"This is a vital match for us, and we have no other choice than to win," he said.

"This week it doesn't matter how we do it. We just have to come away with the two points.

"But I am quite confident that with the work that we have put in this week that we will come up with the right result.

"There were a lot of positive signs in the game against Wigan, but we spoiled a lot of it with a handful of plays that let us down.

"We need to remove those things and then we can start to achieve the standards that we set ourselves."

If they are sloppy, Elliott believes Salford have the players to take advantage, despite a miserable run of five successive defeats.

"They have very dangerous individuals right across the park, and if we made the same sort of mistakes again we will be in trouble.

"It is a long way to chase guys like Nathan McAvoy and Steve Blakeley. Darren Rogers is also pretty quick, and they have some very good forwards."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.