Wakefield (6) 16
Tries: Demetriou, Snitch, Blaymire Goals: Brough, Martin
Bradford (20) 32
Tries: Sykes 3, Newton, Menzies, Worrincy Goals: Deacon 4

Paul Sykes scored a hat-trick for the Bulls

Four first-half tries and some resolute defence powered Bradford Bulls to a hard-fought win over Wakefield.

Paul Sykes crossed twice and was followed by Terry Newton and Steve Menzies during some scintillating first-half play from Bradford.

Almost relentless pressure from Wakefield eventually yielded two tries and reduced the gap to four points.

But John Kear's side were denied a Murrayfield comeback by a late score from Michael Worrincy and Sykes' third.

Wakefield had hung on for a 24-22 win when the two sides met at Belle Vue last month and it was another absorbing encounter in the Scottish capital.

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The Bulls took up where they left off after upsetting leaders St Helens in their last match and centre Sykes scampered in after good work by Menzies and Ben Jeffries had set him free.

Full-back Dave Hallay then got himself between the ball and the ground to deny Wakefield an immediate response after prop Richard Moore crashed over at the other end.

Steve McNamara's men were soon back on the front foot though and showed the ruthlessness their opponents seemed to lack as Newton raced in to round off a flowing move.

After Danny Brough had seen a try ruled out for Danny Sculthorpe impeding Newton, Wakefield clawed back some of the deficit through Jason Demetriou's second try of the season.

A typically aggressive carry from first receiver took him through full-back Halley who could not repeat the heroics that denied Moore.

But the first half belonged to McNamara's men and a looping pass from Jeffries found Sykes' ramrod straight run for a third try before the Bulls moved the ball wide yet again with devastating effect.

Rikki Sheriffe galloped down the touchline before the ball moved back inside to Sykes and finally returned to Menzies as the Bulls moved 14 points ahead.

Dale Ferguson seemed to have prised a way back into the game for Wakefield after the break when he raced onto Danny Brough's kick but the video referee ruled that he had strayed ahead of his scrum-half before grounding.

The Bradford defence was battered but unbroken for 20 brutal minutes as Wakefield pressed forward but failed to find a way through.

Eventually Steve Snitch hauled himself over to cut the lead to 10 points and ratchet up the pressure after Menzies' fumble had handed the ball back to the Wildcats.

After seeing three scores ruled out by video referee Richard Silverwood, Wakefield finally won him over as a loose ball deflected up onto Matt Blaymire's heel and looped perfectly into his path.

But with only four points separating the sides and Bradford nerves jangling, Jeffries delayed his offload perfectly to send Worrincy sliding over and nip any comeback in the bud.

There was just enough time for Sykes to decorate the win with a hat-trick for himself as the Bulls sent a warning that they had belatedly found their Super League form.

Wakefield coach John Kear:

"I was very upset with the video referee's decision on Dale Ferguson You can make offside look offside if you look at any camera angle.

"For me, when the boot touched the ball, Dale Ferguson was onside so that was a very upsetting one, because he would have scored and we would have got on a bit of a roll.

"But we did have enough possession in the second half to have posted more points and that's all credit to Bradford's on-line defence."

Bradford coach Steve McNamara:

"We're not yet where we want to be, we're way off there. We've still got a lot of work still to do. We've got to put a lot more performances together but we're confident that we'll be doing that shortly.

"It was a real game of two halves for us. In the first half we played with great shape and structure offensively, I thought we were potent with the ball and executed some nice plays.

"We probably could have gone in a little bit further in front as well. The second half was all about our defence."

Wakefield: Blaymire, Peterson, Martin, Atkins, Grix, Obst, Brough, Wilkes, Drew, Moore, Snitch, Henderson, Demetriou.
Replacements: Sculthorpe, Leo-Latu, Ferguson, Bibb.

Bradford: Halley, Sheriffe, Sykes, Nero, Tadulala, Jeffries, Deacon, Scruton, Newton, Lynch, Menzies, Burgess, Langley.
Replacements: Cook, Rinaldi, Worrincy, Kopczak.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham)

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