Hull KR 49 Bradford Bulls 24

 Not since the dark days of near-extinction have Bradford hit such depths.

Defeat at Hull KR was the tenth straight, ensuring the current run of wretched form a place in the history books.

Not since the ill-fated 1963-64 campaign has the club suffered such a sequence.

That season finished prematurely when the club went out of business, only to be reformed months later, and this year too looks to have met an early end – play-off hopes virtually dashed by the result at Craven Park.

Now the current Bulls can only work towards their own rebirth, with the recovery of shattered confidence an absolute priority.

A lack of faith in their own ability manifested itself through an avalanche of errors and missed tackles, and once Hull KR had raced into an early three-try lead, there was no way back.

Having focused heavily on the hosts’ kicking game in the build-up, the Bulls can’t have been surprised when the boot of Michael Dobson quickly came into play.

A testing early bomb from the Aussie scrum half was allowed to bounce before Jamie Langley eventually got back to put his name on the ball.

Conversely, Bradford couldn’t make their own kicking pay, Danny Addy failing to find touch with a penalty from inside his own half, which actually resulted in a significant territorial loss after the visitors were quickly pinged at a ruck themselves.

Moving the ball quickly wide to their strike players, Hull offered a potent threat, one which was converted into points when Dobson’s cut-out pass allowed Peter Fox to jink through in the corner.

Worries provided by a Dobson 40-20 were quickly diffused and the Bulls came agonisingly close to making a swift response when Andy Lynch crashed over the line, only for the video referee to confirm he had lost control of the ball before grounding.

Almost a hero, Lynch turned villain when he ripped the ball in a tackle to give away a penalty they could ill afford.

This time moving the ball left, Hull too easily opened up the defence, Sam Latus taking the pass from Liam Colbon and breezing past a weak tackle from Vinny Finigan to score, Dobson converting.

There was no let-up in the pressure, mainly thanks to a superb 40-20 kick from Scott Murrell, and with the Bulls lacking any kind of confidence in defence, the third try wasn’t long in coming.

Finigan was unfortunate to knock on after cutting out a certain try-scoring pass but, such is the Bulls’ luck at the minute, Joel Clinton used the platform provided by the scrum to bulldoze over the whitewash before Dobson added the extras.

Having given themselves an already daunting task, Bradford finally managed to get themselves on the scoreboard when an error from Murrell presented the opportunity.

Smart handling and a couple of neat off-loads from Chris Nero and Elliott Whitehead allowed Stuart Reardon to sneak in on the left for his fifth try of the season.

But, as is so often the case, good work was followed by bad, weak defence exploited by swift ball movement as Clint Newton cut an angled run in field and split two tacklers to cruise though for the touchdown.

Realising the game was quickly slipping away from them, the Bulls responded well to finish the stronger of the two sides.

Consecutive drop-outs were forced when Colbon and Dobson dealt with grubbers from Steve Menzies and Addy respectively before possession changed hands twice in a scrappy sequence of play.

Eventually Finigan found a way through, given time and space to score in the corner by an intelligent long pass from Dave Halley.

Even without the conversion it was a score that pushed the Bulls back into contention, although they were soon left kicking themselves that the gap wasn’t closed further.

A clever off-load out of the tackle from Halley allowed Menzies to break and, even though he had support on both sides ready to take the decisive pass, the stand-off delayed his pass too long, allowing Shaun Briscoe to knock it away.

That bombed chance was made all the more painful when Rovers struck inside two minutes of the second half.

Dobson went to the line and slid Newton through with a short pass, the powerful second-rower brushing off a weak tackle from Halley for his second try of the game, Dobson converting.

The game was put almost completely out of reach by another two tries within a devastating five-minute spell.

A botched play-the-ball allowed Ben Fisher to steal possession from Heath L’Estrange and start a move that resulted in Fox touching down before Briscoe capitalised on a break from Scott Wheeldon to step Halley and score. Dobson goaled both tries to open a 30-point gap.

The Bulls enjoyed a mini-revival when the resultant kick-off was allowed to bounce out of bounds and Craig Kopczak nimbly spun out of one tackle to power over the whitewash and give Addy a straightforward conversion.

The young scrum half’s boot was then crucial in setting up back-to-back tries, his chip causing havoc in the Rovers defence.

Mike Worrincy appeared to knock the ball forwards but play was allowed to continue and, although the Bulls momentarily lost possession due to an errant off-load by Menzies, L’Estrange won it back with devastating effect.

A strong tackle on Briscoe dislodged the ball and the lively hooker reacted quickest and darted over the line, Addy again converting.

But a dominant spell was disrupted when Fox completed his hat-trick, running the ball from a 20-metre restart and evading weak challenges from both Worrincy and Halley to make it all the way downfield.

Finigan registered his fourth senior try for the Bulls, picking up after Michael Platt had fed the ball between his legs in a tackle to beat the flat-footed defence, but there was no chance of any late drama.

Dobson slotted a drop goal and Briscoe had the final say, scoring after Scott Spaven had knocked the ball out of Nero’s hands. Dobson added the extras to complete another frustrating day at the office for Bradford.