Bradford left frustrated as late drop by Dobson salvages draw

Bradford 13 Hull KR 13

Two rusty teams took a share of the spoils from an opening Super League fixture neither of them seemed to want to win.

Michael Dobson scraped over a drop goal to level for Rovers with the last kick of the match after Paul Deacon had put the Bulls ahead in similar fashion two minutes earlier.

"I thought we'd lost it," said the Hull KR coach, Justin Morgan. "I came down from the stand and thought 'Oh well, game over'." Bradford's Steve McNamara was slightly more frustrated by the dramatic outcome. "It was definitely a point lost as far as we were concerned," he said. "We dominated for long periods, but their goal-line defence was a credit to them."

Rovers, with far less possession, were rather more dangerous with it. Chev Walker caught the Bulls dozing and Peter Fox went straight through Michael Platt's tackle for the try, with Dobson adding the conversion and a penalty for an eight-point lead. Bradford finally broke through after 26 minutes, when a switch of the focus of an attack to the blind side created a chance for Semi Tadulala.

The Robins kept themselves in front when Ben Galea's lofted pass put Fox in the clear for his second, but Chris Nero's try reduced the margin to two points by half-time. A Deacon penalty was the only score of the second half before the late exchange of drop goals.

Bradford: Platt; Sheriffe, Sykes, Nero, Tadulala; Jeffries, Deacon; Burgess, Newton, Scruton, Menzies, Morrison, Langley. Substitutes used: Solomona, Godwin, Kopczak, Cook.

Hull KR: Briscoe; Fox, Walker, Welham, Colbon; Cooke, Dobson; Vella, Fisher, Fozzard, Newton, Galea, Murrell. Substitutes used: Gene, Cockayne, Mills, Aizue.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield)