Forshaw leads Bulls' stampede

Widnes 28 Bradford 38

Two second-half tries from their veteran loose forward, Mike Forshaw, took Bradford into the semi-finals of the Powergen Challenge Cup after a classic battle. Forshaw and Stuart Fielden propped up a Bulls pack lacking four of its usual members and it was Forshaw's scores that were instrumental in overturning Widnes' 10-point half-time lead.

"We were still pretty composed, because we always thought that if we stuck to our game plan we would score some points in the second half,'' said the 33-year-old Forshaw.

"He was outstanding,'' his coach, Brian Noble, said. "But it was a great team effort after the adversity we have had this week.'' Bradford's injury crisis did not look quite as severe as had been painted, but their "Awesome Foursome'' of hulking props were conspicuous by their absence, leaving Fielden as a lonesome onesome.

It was his driving run that set up the game's first try, Paul Deacon throwing out a long pass and Shontayne Happe merely showing the ball to his winger to create the gap and go over.

Widnes' problem this season has not been making chances, but taking them, but they cut the lead to two points after 15 minutes when Jason Demetriou took Shane Mallard's pass to squeeze in at the corner. Better still, Widnes took the lead four minutes later, Stuart Spruce capitalising on Dean Lawford's short pass.

It was Widnes' turn to be caught looking hesitant when Leon Pryce, another top performer despite not being fully fit, charged through to take Deacon's high kick and put the Bulls back in the lead, but a fluctuating half swung Widnes' way again when Lawford went ducking and diving through. In injury time, Adam Hughes crowned a magnificent 40 minutes of rugby with an absolute screamer, hacking on a loose ball and racing up the field to regather and touch down.

Bradford made immediate inroads into the deficit at the start of the second half, with Forshaw scoring a deceptively simply try from Deacon's pass, and heavy pressure finally produced a penalty from which Deacon reduced the margin to two points. The crucial moment came when Forshaw undid the Widnes defence with a diagonal run and a final thrust for the line. That took some of the self-belief out of the home side with Robbie Paul scoring from Pryce's break to put the Bulls 10 points clear.

Although Phil Cantillon's reply ensured a finish worthy of a great cup tie, it was finally clinched by Naylor's injury-time try, to leave Widnes to reflect on what might have been. "It was a brave effort and I thought we did enough to win, as far as football went,'' the Widnes coach, Neil Kelly, said. "But we shot ourselves in the foot too often.''

Widnes: Devlin; Potter, Bird, Hughes, Demetriou; Spruce, Lawford; Relf, Millard, O'Neill, Hay, McCurrie, Frame. Subs: Farrell, Mills, Atcheson, Cantillon.

Bradford: Withers; Reardon, Naylor, Hape, Vainikolo; Pryce, Deacon; Parker, Pratt, Fielden, Gartner, Gilmour, Forshaw. Subs: Paul, Langley, Radford, Moore.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).