Steve McNamara confessed his side were second best after watching them succumb to an eighth straight defeat at Harlequins last night.

Instead of hopping back into the play-off places, Bradford could finish the weekend as low as tenth, if Wakefield beat Hull this evening.

Only six games remain in the quest to save a season that has hit a slippery slope and Bulls boss McNamara is under no illusions about the task ahead.

He said: “It was a really bad day at the office.

“We were very poor tonight, there’s no two ways about that. We certainly gave a lot of possession away and Harlequins beat us in most departments.

“We were keen to get a good start but it went the opposite way and that didn’t help with our nerves.

“We’ve had a good chat in the dressing room and the players understand what needs to be done. We’ll fix it.”

Right from the first whistle, the Bulls played as if there was a significant monkey on their backs, allowing Quins the time and space to get at them.

An 18-0 deficit was pulled back to 21-12 early in the second half but a comeback was never on the cards, especially after Steve Menzies was yellow-carded amid a flood of penalties conceded.

McNamara said: “It was not like last week where we really threatened to push on and bring that game back. You could sense we had some issues there that we’re not dealing with properly.

“We’re a very frustrated team at the minute, which we need to help each other with because we’re giving away a lot of penalties.

“We’re not performing the way we’re practicing and frustration is getting the better of us.”

To add to the problems, there are fresh concerns over Jamie Langley, who was sidelined for much of the game after aggravating his troublesome quad muscle during the first half.

McNamara added: “We lost Langers with about six or seven minutes left in the first half and he’s a key player for us but there are no excuses, they were the better team on the night full stop.”