Late tries spare Bradford Bulls' blushes

RELIEF. Monumental relief.

For Jimmy Lowes, for his players and for everyone of a Bradford Bulls persuasion.

Four minutes remained at Mount Pleasant with Batley leading 19-14.

The part-timers were on course to topple their big-city neighbours and John Kear's scriptwriter was preparing to take another bow.

The man who so famously orchestrated Sheffield Eagles' Challenge Cup final win over Wigan in 1998 had motivated Batley to the extent that victory looked theirs for the taking.

They had overturned Bradford's 14-6 interval advantage with a stunning second-half display.

Former Bulls scrum half Cain Southernwood, who enjoyed a fine game, had the chance to possibly put the match beyond the visitors with a penalty attempt in the 73rd minute.

He missed the target from around 35 metres out and, three minutes later, Danny Williams grounded the ball in the left corner to cut Batley's lead to a point.

Ryan Shaw then converted it from the touchline to make it 20-19 in front of the massed ranks of travelling Bulls supporters, before Chris Ulugia's late try finished Batley off.

It was a cruel way for Kear's men to lose the match – but give credit to the Bulls for keeping their heads and snatching victory late on.

This was the third away match in succession that Bradford fans had turned out in huge numbers to back their team.

The Bulls are winning matches again and this latest success came despite the absence of over half a dozen absentees.

Alex Mellor, Dave Petersen, Etu Uaisele, Matty Blythe, Jean-Philippe Baile, Dale Ferguson, Danny Addy, Chev Walker and Karl Davies were all unavailable through injury.

But Harry Siejka was back after suspension and returned to his customary scrum half berth, with Jake Mullaney moved to full back and Shaw to the centres.

There was also a first appearance of the season off the bench for homegrown hooker Nathan Conroy in the second half.

The first half was a fiercely-contested affair as Batley, playing uphill in the opening 40 minutes, were highly motivated to say the least.

Former Bulls player Shaun Ainscough, who lined up in the centres, had warned that Kear would have the Bulldogs fired up and he was not wrong.

The hosts were missing scrum half Scott Leatherbarrow with a broken hand, while James Craven and Ayden Faal were also absent through injury.

The Bulls struck the opening blow in the fourth minute when Gaskell, typically, once again proved too good for Championship opposition.

Collecting possession inside the left channel, the former St Helens stand-off showed blistering pace to outstrip the Batley defence and showed intelligence to send the supporting Shaw racing clear from just past halfway.

It was pure theatre and underlined both player's attacking talent.

That should have been the platform to use the slope to their advantage and kick on.

It was not, but give credit to Batley for that.

They steadied themselves and hit back four minutes later with a try from centre Shaun Squires.

The try stemmed from an initial driving run from Anthony Nicholson which took him to Bradford's 20-metre line before the impressive Sam Scott was held up.

Yet the Bulldogs kept probing and a kick by Alistair Leak into the left corner saw Squires on hand to hack the ball forward and touch down for a try.

The score was rapturously received by the home faithful – but more impressive was the conversion by Southernwood to level the scores at 6-6.

Now we had a game on our hands as Batley, flooded with self-belief, tore into tackles and went toe to toe with their illustrious visitors.

The Bulls always looked capable of breaching Batley's line again but too often chances were spurned.

In the 13th minute, Adam Henry collected Gaskell's delicate pass inside the right channel and looked to have the pace to scamper clear. Johnny Campbell, the Bulldogs' left winger, had other ideas and made a fine saving tackle to deny the New Zealander.

Moments later, Batley were caught offside and Shaw, much to everyone's surprise, kicked for goal rather than pushing for another try.

After Batley kicked out on the full from the restart, the Bulls fashioned another opportunity but Henry failed to divert Gaskell's high kick into Jay Pitts' path.

The Bulls engineered another decent handling sequence which ended with Henry knocking on from Mullaney's pass.

Midway through the first half, the Bulls cut Batley apart as Mullaney broke from deep and found Shaw in support. The Cumbrian appeared destined to race clear but full back Jordan Grayston made an outstanding ankle tap to halt his progress.

Powerhouse Batley prop Alex Rowe then came close to barging over and Adam O'Brien was denied from close range, before Epalahame Lauaki made his mark with some huge carries following his introduction shortly before the break.

Yet there was precious little to separate the sides before a pass from Lauaki at acting-half saw the ball worked out to the left flank on the stroke of half-time.

Shaw clipped a teasing left-foot grubber kick forward and Mullaney's predatory instinct saw him touch down in the corner for a try which was improved.

Batley v Bulls picture gallery

A 14-6 interval lead was probably about right, but Batley knew the game was still very much alive.

Inspired by Kear's half-time pep talk, they came roaring out of the traps and scored two tries in four minutes to turn the game on its head.

After Williams wasted a chance to score by kicking straight to Batley winger Wayne Reittie, the hosts went downfield and Joe Chandler stretched out an arm to score from close range.

Southernwood converted before Batley struck again three minutes later with a well-worked score. Southernwood found Nicholson and his neat inside pass found prop Keegan Hirst and he outmuscled a thicket of Bradford defenders to power over the line.

Not helped by the performance of referee George Stokes, Bradford struggled badly for fluency as the second half progressed and a drop-goal from Southernwood made it 19-14 with nine minutes remaining.

But his penalty attempt then missed the target and Batley were made to pay when Williams' kick inside the left channel fortuitously rebounded to him and he touched down.

Shaw converted and then Ulugia made sure of victory late on when he took Henry's pass to score in the right corner.

Shaw kicked five goals from as many attempts as the Bulls celebrated the win, while Batley were left heartbroken.

Attendance: 2,223