Ganson public enemy No 1 with Bradford Bulls fans but players are back in their good books

The referee has never been the most popular man in the city but his stock hit an all-time low following the Bulls’ Challenge Cup exit to Wigan Warriors.

After weeks of struggles, of disappointment and despondency, Mick Potter’s team finally produced a performance to be proud of, only to have their hopes dashed by the St Helens official.

The Bulls matched the reigning Super League champions blow for blow throughout an enthralling fifth-round tie and could have won it but for a ridiculous decision late in the first half.

Ganson brandished a red card when Gareth Raynor caught Sam Tomkins around the head while the Wigan full back was in the process of scoring his side’s second try.

In an instant, the game turned. Trailing 10-6 with a numerical disadvantage, the task was just too big for Bradford to conquer, despite a spirited second-half fightback that saw them battle to within four points.

It was a cruel twist of fate for a side that looked transformed from the previous week’s defeat at Hull KR. But rather than lose heart in the face of a disappointing scoreline, they should take heart from a performance full of positives.

Early enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by jitters in defence, Shad Royston completely failing to deal with a high bomb caught in the swirling wind.

Wigan were given another set of six but surprisingly blew their chance to strike.

Sam Tomkins ducked and weaved through a couple of tackles before flicking the offload to Ryan Hoffman, who in turn provided Pat Richards with a stroll to the line.

The sizeable away support had already started the celebrations when eagle-eyed Ganson referred the decision to the video referee.

His suspicions were proved spot-on, as Richards had dropped the ball before grounding, handing the hosts an unexpected let-off.

The Bulls made the most of their reprieve, matching the reigning Super League champions both in attack and defence.

Having established position deep in Warriors territory, Kyle Briggs hung up a bomb that just begged to be attacked.

Royston responded to the call, knocking the ball back to Bryn Hargreaves and suddenly space opened up.

Both Hargreaves and fellow prop Andy Lynch showed good hands to whip the ball to Elliott Whitehead, who touched down his seventh try of the season, Patrick Ah Van adding the extras.

Wigan slipped up again right from the restart, Richards kicking the ball dead by a good ten metres to hand ball back to the Bulls.

Good, consistent pressure was applied on the visitors and an opportunity almost presented itself when Thomas Leuluai’s kick was charged down and Michael Platt pounced to scoop up the loose ball.

But outstanding try-line defence prevented the Warriors from falling further behind and a knock-on by Briggs provided the platform for their first try.

Swift ball movement created an overlap on the left and a neat bit of handling from Darrell Goulding sent in Richards, this time making no mistake.

But that blow failed to floor the hosts and they continued to rev up their sparse support through undeniable effort and tenacity.

Whitehead put in a thrilling hiton Sam Tomkins to force a drop-out but ball retention still wasn’t quite good enough to squeeze further points out of the tight Wigan defence.

Instead, the entire outlook changed drastically thanks to one incident.

There was absolutely no doubt about the try that edged the Warriors in front, Hoffman slipping a superb offload to Sam Tomkins, who stepped right and left to slice through the defence.

But Ganson’s decision to send off Raynor was controversial at best, leaving the Bulls to battle against a numerical deficit on the scoreboard and the pitch.

Still, they battled gamely in difficult circumstances and were handed temporary parity when Jeff Lima was sin-binned three minutes before the break as third man into a tackle on Ah Van.

It mattered little though. Wigan emerged for the second half in rampant mood and scored within three minutes, when a truly outstanding one-handed offload from Goulding sent Richards clear, the winger converting his own try.

Seeking a swift response, the Bulls were perhaps a touch over-eager after Craig Kopczak had made a decent break.

Briggs put through a grubber that was far too easily read by Brett Finch. The stand-off simply trapped the ball on his own 20-metre line, picked up and blasted through Briggs’ weak attempt at a tackle to race for the line.

When Richards’ kick sailed between the posts, the game looked over. But it wasn’t.

Ah Van’s restart was allowed to bounce out behind and Bradford rode the momentum to put themselves right back in contention. Ben Jeffries provided the necessary quality, opening space with a neat angled run before flipping the outlet pass to Ah Van, who touched down in the corner and nailed the tricky touchline conversion.

Befitting the nature of the occasion, a barmy sequence of play followed, as the Warriors collected their own kick-off after the wicked wind held it up on the opposition 30-metre line.

Initially, Wigan lost possession but Sean O’Loughlin stole it back again, yet Chris Tuson couldn’t finish a dangerous move when a Bradford hand forced him to knock-on Finch’s pass.

Still, at times, the Bulls did themselves no favours – a fact highlighted when Whitehead dropped a kick in front of his own line. Luckily, the second-rower recovered to tip Joel Tomkins’ pass from the resultant scrum, preventing Josh Charnley from scoring a certain try.

Bradford showed an incredible resilience to hold out on their own try-line and incredibly pulled within four points with 16 minutes still to play. Picking up the ball on the Warriors’ 20-metre line, Briggs delayed before dabbing a grubber through for Royston to touch down, Ah Van adding the conversion.

But despite the very real threat of a monumental upset, it just didn’t happen.

Liam Farrell struck the killer blow when he took a short ball from Finch to stretch over the try-line, moments after Jeffries had cruelly conceded a new set of six when he came within a hair’s breadth of grabbing an interception.

To their credit, the Bulls kept fighting even as hope slipped away and Jeffries produced another clever pass to put Ah Van away in the corner for his second try of the afternoon.

There is hope yet.