On a day when the famous old stadium bid farewell to a sporting giant, the Bulls mounted a titanic comeback after falling
18-0 behind inside the opening 20 minutes to opponents who needed victory to keep their own play-off hopes alive.

Unfortunately for Hull KR the top six dream died in the early stages of the second half when Joe Vagana, playing his last match at Odsal after eight years as a Bradford player, returned from the bench to combine with fellow Kiwi David Solomona and provide the inspiration the Bulls had lacked.

Bradford scored six tries without reply during a one-sided second half to give Vagana the perfect send off although the prop could not add the goal to a late try by Terry Newton with the last kick of the match.

"I was very worried, to put it mildly, after that first 20 minutes," admitted Bradford coach Steve McNamara. "There are no excuses whatsoever: we were dreadful.

"The response after that was fantastic, both with and without the ball."

Bradford could yet finish in fourth place if they win at Castleford in two weeks and Warrington and Wigan lose their matches against Huddersfield and St Helens, respectively, but McNamara is making no concrete plans to give Vagana an Odsal encore.

"It's out of our hands now but we've given ourselves an opportunity and if we win at Castleford its going to be very interesting," said McNamara. "There is a hell of a lot of ability and resolve in this side.

"I'm excited by some of the things we did today but at the same time I'm not getting carried away."

It all seemed a little too easy for Hull KR after they had survived an early scare when James Evans's claims for a sixth-minute try were overruled by the video referee.

Rovers rallied to show Bradford the way with three converted tries inside the opening quarter to open up an 18-0 lead which left the home supporters dismayed.

The visitors' first try was a rousing score from Kris Welham, the 21-year-old former Hull Academy centre who raced 80 metres after intercepting a loose pass by Ben Jeffries.

A punishing high kick by Michael Dobson then forced Dave Halley to concede the drop-out which set up the position from which Hull KR captain grabbed the first of his two tries with a rampaging run which saw him step nimbly past Jeffries and shove Paul Sykes out of the way to reach the line.

Dobson added the goal and landed a third following Vella's second try, a a strong surge close to the line taking him over after Rovers had withstood some intense pressure inside their own half.

Hull KR also wasted a couple of promising opportunities with some poor, rushed handling, mistakes which proved even more damaging when the Bulls roared back with two tries of their own before the interval to close the gap to eight points.

The first was scored by Sykes who accelerated away through a huge gap from a pass by Jeffries after a smart low kick by Paul Deacon had forced a drop-out.

Deacon converted before featuring in the move that ended with slick handling putting Halley over in the right corner despite Welham's last-gasp effort to force him into touch.

The difference was narrowed to just two points three minutes after the restart when Solomona nipped through to score from a good pass by Wayne Godwin before Solomona provided the pass that put winger Semi Tadulala over in the left corner.

Matt Cook stole in to score after kicking the ball out of the clutches of Shaun Briscoe; Chris Nero rose high above Jake Webster to take Deacon's kick and touch down; Newton's sleight of hand then put Evans over; and the hooker completed the rout and Hull KR's misery by crashing through in the closing stages.

Hull KR coach Justin Morgan said his side had been given a lesson in the art of kicking by Deacon and paid a heavy price for their lack of composure.

Although the defeat dashed their play-off hopes, Morgan said Rovers could feel proud at the progress they had made in 2008.

"I've been disappointed at some of our performances but on other occasions we have exceeded expectations," said Morgan.

"I'm pleased that we got so close to the play-offs but disappointed that we haven't made it. It's like winning a silver medal at the Olympics: it's a great achievement but gold would have been better."


Bradford Bulls: Sykes; Halley, Evan, Nero, Tadulala; Jeffries, Deacon; Vagana, Newton, Lynch, Cook, Finnigan, Langley. Substitutes: Johnson, Godwin, Solomona, Kopczak.

Hull Kingston Rovers: Briscoe; Fox, Welham, Webster, Steel; Galea, Dobson; Aizue, Fisher, Mills, Vella, Lovegrove, Gene. Substitutes: Cooke, Cockayne, Crossman, Netherton.

Referee: R Silverwood (Mirfield).