WARRINGTON Wolves closed the gap on Super League leaders Wigan to just two points with a 26-12 victory over Bradford at Odsal – even though they were far from their best.
The Wolves eventualy broke the deadlock midway through the first half through Ben Currie, with further tries from Lee Briers, Michael Monaghan and Trent Waterhouse (pictured top) before the break to give Warrington a 20-0 half-time lead.
Ryan Atkins’ try shortly after the re-start all but ended the game as a contest before Chev Walker and James Donaldson grabbed consolation tries for Bradford in their fifth consecutive defeat.
The Bulls defended stoutly for the opening quarter but they were made to pay for their first lapse in concentration, as Currie burst through a gap to cross in the left corner from 30 yards out in the 20th minute.
Bradford’s line was breached again three minutes later as a slick move down the right ended with Chris Riley passing inside to Briers, who touched down.
Then Michael Monaghan superbly dived over the line near the posts after clever work from dummy half followed by second-rower Waterhouse who squeezed over on the left from stand-in scrum-half Stefan Ratchford’s (pictured right) pass.
Any hopes the Bulls had of getting back into the match took a significant blow as Atkins intercepted a cut out pass and dived over unchallenged five minutes after the re-start, with Brett Hodgson knocking over his third conversion.
To their credit, the Bulls refused to lie down and their persistence paid off as seconds after John Bateman had been held up Walker went over under the posts in the 66th minute, while Donaldson’s try on the hooter gave the Bulls the final word.
Although happy with the victory Wolves boss Tony Smith was far from happy with the over all performance.
“We lacked intensity in the match but sometimes you can’t be at your very, very best all the time.I thought our opponents hung in there, tried really hard and were rewarded with a couple of late tries.
“They’ve had a really tough day in terms of some late re-shuffling. They’ve showed a lot of guts and grit, which is terrific, so I’m happy enough we got through pretty much unscathed and had some hit outs for some people who haven’t had some game time for a little while.
“It wasn’t the most fluent of rugby league from either team, but unfortunately that’s what we get sometimes.”
Try scorer Michael Monaghan.
Try scorer Trent Waterhouse
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