Bradford Bulls 18, Halifax 4

EYEBROWS were raised by Jimmy Lowes' scathing attack on the Summer Bash during his pre-match press briefing last week.

Lowes put the boot into the Bash by admitting he would rather have been playing Halifax at The Shay than at Blackpool.

The Bulls head coach described such events as Magic Weekend as past their sell-by date.

While the RFL spent the week pumping out press releases building up the inaugural Summer Bash, Lowes was talking it down.

Yet his typically belligerent stance was evidently not shared by the 2,500 Bulls supporters who filled one end of Bloomfield Road.

They barely stopped singing during the second half, with many fans filling their boots by spending the weekend in the seaside resort.

Lowes made some valid points last week about the event doing nothing to attract new supporters to the game.

But this was a chance for a good day out if nothing else, a rare moment in the sun for Championship rugby league, and a chance to showcase the competition on Sky – even if the swathes of empty orange seats made for uncomfortable viewing for RFL bosses.

When asked for his views on the Bash after Saturday's win, Lowes chose his words more carefully, although he could not resist a slight dig.

"The support we had was awesome and if our lot hadn't turned up, there would have been no-one here, would there?" he said.

"Our fans were absolutely fantastic and they do give you a lift. For the last 20 minutes, they never stopped singing. They were brilliant."

The support from the Bradford fans was amazing and has been all season. They were rewarded for their loyalty on Saturday by seeing the Bulls grind out a 12th straight Championship victory.

Although the Bulls may not have left any watching Super League coaches too concerned by this performance, it is hard not to feel that they are steadily improving as the season progresses.

Whether that will be enough to secure promotion in the end-of-season Super Eights remains to be seen – but there was an impressive resilience about the Bulls here.

And when their chances came, they took them with deadly aplomb.

Lee Gaskell has the ability to unlock the best defences and his contribution was again vital as the Bulls built a 12-0 interval lead.

Halifax, as they had been at Odsal on Good Friday, looked fit, strong and well organised.

Impressive young full back Ben Johnston and centre Chris Taylor both went close before hooker Ben Kaye was held up over the line in the 16th minute.

Kaye just failed to ground the ball under pressure from Gaskell and Adam O'Brien – and Halifax went close again through a teasing grubber kick from Scott Murrell which came to nothing.

Halifax dominated much of the early field position but they could not make it pay. The pendulum gradually swung in Bradford's favour and two tries in five minutes before half-time put them in control.

Ryan Shaw did superbly well to field a high bomb from Murrell and then Adam Henry made a fine break inside the left channel.

The Bulls continued to probe with Gaskell involved again as the ball was worked to Shaw, who showed impressive strength to evade the attention of a Halifax defender to cross the line.

The Cumbrian converted – and the Bulls soon had a second try.

This time a fine piece of play from Gaskell saw him find Shaw breaking forward again from full back and the former Warrington player's intelligent inside pass sent Adrian Purtell over from close range.

As Halifax boss Richard Marshall said, such moments of quality can decide a game. He reflected: "Their sleight of hand, their skills; that's the difference. There are no excuses and it's not the part-time/full-time argument.

"You practice those skills, those little flicks, catching the ball on your bootlaces. They have more of a chance to do that and they are the things that come off.

"We haven't got a Gaskell or a Purtell at our club – but we have got 17 warriors who worked really hard for each other."

Bulls v Halifax match pictures

Tyler Dickinson was offside when he chased a high kick and clashed heads with Shaw, which saw the Bulls full back withdrawn.

But James Mendeika came on and made an assured debut, although Halifax breached the Bulls' line in the 43rd minute when centre Ben Heaton finished superbly from Murrell's neat pass.

Murrell could not convert and then Bradford claimed a third try in the 55th minute when Purtell finished off some delightful handling involving Gaskell, Jay Pitts and Paul Clough.

Ross Divorty, Gaskell and Pitts all had claims for a try waved away by video referee Robert Hicks as the Bulls held on with relative comfort.

Jean-Philippe Baile enjoyed a fine game off the bench, putting in the hard yards at loose forward, while Danny Williams enjoyed what Lowes called his best game for the club.

The Bulls coach, who picked out O'Brien for special praise again, felt his side could have looked after the ball much better.

He said: "It was a tough win and we were tough defensively – but we had to be because with the ball we were terrible. A couple of times when we weren't terrible with the ball, we created and scored tries.

"Dropping balls clean was nothing to do with Halifax. I thought they defended as well, as we did for a lot of the game, and played with a lot of energy.

"But we were poor with the ball under no pressure and that was down to ourselves. It was still a good, physical game and I enjoyed watching it."

Attendance: 8,560