Bulls 22, Catalans 24

Of all the defeats – and there have been plenty – this must rank as the most difficult to take.

For much of the past three months, the wounded and underconfident Bulls have simply been outplayed, often beaten by the better team. This one was thrown away.

A less than impressive Catalans side were there for the taking but Bradford’s performance was summed up by a string of bombed chances.

Balls were dropped, overlaps went ignored and passes failed to hit their mark as a glorious chance to snap a miserable ten-game losing run was allowed to slip slowly and painfully away.

Instead, the run now stands at 11 and while the win slipped from grasp, so too did faint hopes of a play-off spot.

While it is not time to write off this season yet, it looks like pride is now the only thing left to play for.

All the talk of making a quick start appeared to be nothing more than idle chatter, as Catalans were allowed to stroll in for the opening two tries.

It took just two minutes for Setaimata Sa to canter through the defence off the back of a scrum, cutting an angled line between the attempted tackle from Wayne Godwin and Jamie Langley. Thomas Bosc converted – and the second try was not long in coming.

Supposed Bradford target Olivier Elima provided an advert for his undoubted skills by producing an impressive off-load out of the tackle from Langley to open up space down the left. Bosc had the simple task of providing the scoring pass to the waiting Sebastien Raguin.

Despite another wretched start, chances were forthcoming as the Bulls did their best to provide a swift response. Yet every time they ventured past the halfway line, a bout of the jitters seemed to infect every player.

One madcap sequence of play summed up the lack of confidence prevalent throughout the team, as the ball was chucked around with abandon before Dave Halley’s long pass sailed straight through the grasp of Rikki Sheriffe and into touch.

For a long spell it had seemed more difficult not to score.

It certainly didn’t help that referee James Child seemed intent on spoiling an already poor game, blowing his whistle almost haphazardly as proceedings took on a rather chaotic feel.

But the home side did get themselves off the mark just after the end of the first quarter when Andy Lynch produced a smart side-step to evade the grasps of a defender before powering over the line from close range, Sykes converting.

Another glorious chance went begging when Glenn Hall dropped the ball while going for the line, moments after Steve Crossley had come within a whisker of touching down, before Child made a difficult task even harder.

The man in the middle banished Mike Worrincy to the sin-bin for repeated offences as the Bulls continued to get absolutely hammered on the penalty count.

Catalans applied pressure without ever looking particularly convincing but managed to find a way through right on the stroke of half-time, Brent Sherwin’s chip plucked out of the air by Steve Bell for a try in the corner. Bosc converted to give the visitors a ten-point lead at the break.

But with Worrincy still sidelined for the start of the second half, the hosts began with a little more urgency and spark.

Tom Olbison seemed the personification of that change, introduced as a half-time interchange before scoring his first senior try within three minutes of his arrival on the pitch.

The young second-rower was well placed to take a neat delayed pass from Heath L’Estrange and spun to dive gratefully over the line, Sykes adding the extras.

That boost, coupled with a turn in the tide of penalties dished out by Child, saw the Bulls finally develop some meaningful momentum.

The equalising try became almost inevitable and Catalans’ gaze seemed to be drifting more and more towards the following week’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington.

L’Estrange once more provided the craft to carve open the defence, knocking an inch-perfect grubber into the right corner for Steve Menzies to touch down.

Bradford still needed to weather a brief storm as the visitors attempted to reclaim their lead, Halley coming to the rescue when he got his body under Tony Gigot to prevent a try.

Having seen off that threat, the Bulls took the lead for the first time, Menzies stepping before feeding Platt, the centre putting his head down to power forward, break the attempted tackle from Dane Carlaw and stretch over the line.

Sykes converted but then provided some less than stellar work with the boot, kicking the restart out on the full to gift Catalans an attacking platform.

Elima gave the Bulls fans more reason to imagine his impact in red, amber and black, coming in from wide to take Bosc’s pass and carve a passage through the defensive line to score.

Bosc hit the mark with his conversion attempt and then kicked the decisive points, knocking over a penalty after Bradford had been penalised for not standing square at marker.

Still, a two-point gap was far from insurmountable and the hosts should have made late territorial dominance count.

A tremendous full-stretch tackle from Kane Bentley denied Langley a try after he had broken the line but largely, the Bulls were their own worst enemies.

Sykes sent a pass sailing into touch as numbers mounted up out wide, while Platt juggled a pass from Menzies before dropping it with the line at his mercy.

Attendance: 6,217