Bradford 42, Hull KR 18: Bradford keep hopes of top-four place alive
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Your support makes all the difference.Bradford overcame an 18-point deficit to keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish in the Super League and finally quash Hull Kingston Rovers' chances of making the play-offs. Justin Morgan's side had looked set for an easy victory when they raced into an 18-0 lead inside the first quarter after Kris Welham went over and Mick Vella scored twice. But the Bulls charged back with eight unanswered tries to give Joe Vagana the perfect farewell on his final league appearance at Odsal.
Paul Sykes and Dave Halley narrowed the gap to just eight points at half-time before the hosts let rip with three tries in the first 10 minutes of the second half. David Solomona powered over from close range after bursting on to a neat inside-ball from Paul Deacon and then offloaded to Semi Tadulala to push the Bulls ahead for the first time. Matt Cook touched down after racing on to his own kick before Chris Nero was quickest to react to Deacon's hanging cross-field punt. James Evans and Terry Newton wrapped up an ultimately convincing win in the final quarter.
Evans had an early attempt ruled out by the video referee but that was Bradford's only real attack in the first 20 minutes. Instead, Welham pushed Rovers ahead with a 70-metre burst after intercepting Ben Jeffries' pass before Vella beat Jeffries and fended off Sykes to double the visitors' advantage. Vella grabbed his second as Rovers capitalised on Simon Finnigan's forward pass to Solomona and they looked ready to cruise. But Bradford recovered enough purpose to post two tries before the break and it was one-way traffic after the restart.
The Bulls can now jump to fourth in the final round of matches but they must win at Castleford and hope Warrington slip up against Huddersfield.
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