Dewsbury 16 Bradford Bulls 30: Spirited Rams fall to city slickers in front of record attendance

The homegrown back-rower struck twice from close range in the final quarter after the Rams had made life difficult for James Lowes’ men.

Lowes saw Danny Williams (groin) and Chev Walker (knee) join the casualty list yesterday and he again blasted the hectic Easter schedule.

The Bradford head coach, whose side beat Halifax at home on Good Friday, said: “It’s always a tough ask to back up at any level from two games in four days.

“Both teams battled really hard but I hope something is done about this Easter weekend.

“We lost a couple of players who got busted today and it’s all down to fatigue. It needs to be looked at.”

First-half tries by Jay Pitts and Etu Uaisele put the Bulls 10-0 up but Dewsbury hit back on the stroke of half-time through Dale Morton’s interception try.

Morton’s conversion made it 10-6 at the break before Gaskell added a third try for Bradford when he barged over shortly after the restart.

Byron Smith then hit back for Dewsbury when he grounded the ball under the posts.

But Bradford full-back Ryan Shaw touched down in the left corner to give the the visitors a little breathing space.

Scotland international Addy soon claimed centre stage with his double.

Both scores saw him touch down from close range to underline his class and finally kill off Dewsbury’s spirited challenge.

A late touchdown from ex-Bulls player Jason Crookes was no more than consolation for Glenn Morrison’s part-time team.

But Bradford certainly knew they had been in the game as they claimed an eighth straight win in all competitions.

A crowd of 4,068 marked the biggest attendance at the Tetley’s Stadium since it opened in 1994.

Bradford Bulls: Shaw, Williams, Purtell, Henry, Uaisele, Gaskell, Siejka, Clough, O’Brien, Sidlow, Walshaw, Pitts, Addy. Substitutes: Halafihi, Fleming, Tahraoui, Walker

Dewsbury Rams: Pryce, Morton, Crookes, Hale, Grant, Brown, Thackeray, Hepworth, Hemingway, Jackson, Spicer, T Adamson, L Adamson. Substitutes: Smith, Haggerty, Wildie, Aizue.

Referee: George Stokes