BULLS head coach Mark Dunning felt his side were “disconnected” last night, as their Betfred Challenge Cup journey ended with a whimper in round five at fierce rivals Halifax.

Losing the mercurial Tom Holmes to injury early on undoubtedly disturbed Bradford’s gameplan, but it certainly did not excuse an ugly and wasteful 26-0 defeat.

Dunning conceded: “We lacked a clinical edge and any composure at all.

“We talked about building a game and earning the right through our actions, but we kept coming up with individual errors.

“Individuals were trying to do things to make the scoreboard tick over rather than sticking to the process.

“I thought the whole performance was disconnected and individual, we just weren’t connected as a group.”

He added: “We completed at 66 per cent in the first half which is nowhere near.

“Against a good team like Halifax, if you give them the ball, they’ll punish you.

“(Fax half-back) Louis Jouffret was practically playing in a dinner jacket and he ripped us apart on our left edge.

“We spoke about putting pressure on him and Joe Keyes and making them defend as much as possible and we just haven’t done it.”

Jouffret was talismanic for Fax last night, as Holmes has been for Bulls on more than one occasion this season.

But he hurt his knee making a try-saving tackle on Jake Maizen in the opening 10 minutes and played no further part in the game.

Dunning said: “It was a massive blow to lose him.

“We had a plan of rotation, where Billy Jowitt was going to come on and interchange with with Jordan Lilley at nine.

“We’d always said that 60 minutes for Jack Walker (on his return after 12 weeks out with injury) was going to be enough tonight too.

“At that point, Tom was going to go back to full-back, where he has been one of our better players all year.

“To lose the ability to do that was tough and played a part in what we what we delivered out there.

“But we can't blame it all on that.”

Dunning is hopeful Holmes will be back for Bulls’ next game, which is away to Barrow in the Betfred Championship in a fortnight, and he will also have his fingers crossed that the back injuries picked up by Ben Blackmore and Keven Appo are not too serious either.

AJ Wallace is fit again after his ankle niggle, but Dunning rested him for last night’s clash.

There was less good news on David Foggin-Johnston.

The winger has been struggling with a knee injury, and though he was named in the 21-man squad for this game, he pulled up on the eve of the tie, and was thus unavailable for selection.