Last year’s agonising near miss will be firmly entrenched in the Bulls’ minds during tonight’s visit to Hull FC.

The KC Stadium provided the backdrop for one of their best moments of 2009 – but one which ultimately ranked among their worst.

Needing a win on the last day of the season to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the play-offs, Steve McNamara’s side clinched a thrilling 21-18 triumph against the Airlie Birds, thanks to three late points from the boot of Paul Deacon.

But jubilation turned to crushing disappointment when it became clear Catalans had done the seemingly impossible and won at St Helens.

Despite the outcome, that kind of rousing performance is the benchmark for the Bulls’ expectations as they aim to build on their current eighth-place in Super League.

“It’s a great stadium. There’s always a big crowd there,” said head coach McNamara.

“I think we’ve all got entrenched in our memory the great support we got there last season. It’s a place we’re looking to go and replicate that kind of performance for our fans and for ourselves.

“We’ve got some great memories going there. It’s going to be another tough night at the office, simply because of the improvement Hull FC have made and the form they’ve been in, but we’re excited about the challenge.”

McNamara believes his side are well-placed to climb towards Super League’s summit, having come through a testing start to the season with three wins from six.

At the same time last year, Bradford had only a solitary victory and, this time round, they have already faced all of the current top four, with the fifth-placed side to come tonight.

McNamara said: “I think we’ve had an extremely tough start to the competition and that continues this week.

“Everyone would like to be playing at the top of their form and to the best of their potential all the way through but this is still a relatively new side.

  • Tickets for the Bulls’ Challenge Cup fourth-round clash at Dewsbury on Sunday, April 18 are now available.

Bulls membership card holders can obtain their free ticket until 5pm on Tuesday.

Any unclaimed tickets will be put on general sale from 9.30am on Wednesday, although members will still be eligible to obtain their free ticket once they are on general sale.