Gaskell tells Bulls to deal with the niggle

He admitted they were alarmed by some of Leigh Centurions’ questionable practices when they lost Sunday’s bad-tempered opener 36-24.

Bradford had surged into a 20-6 interval lead at the home of the champions only to lose eventually their way in a fiery match that brought six yellow cards.

“It was a bit disappointing after the first half went so well,” said Gaskell.

“But I think in the second period we got dragged into their game and some of the refereeing decisions were quite shocking to be honest.

“We expected that but not as much as that and we’ve just got to deal with it to be honest.

“You could see from the first whistle what their (Leigh) tactics were but we’ve got to be big enough to deal with that.

“We know it’s going to happen with Championship teams so we’ve got to deal with our discipline.”

It was the West Yorkshire club’s first game in the second tier in 41 years as they started their fight for an immediate return.

Bradford always knew a visit to Leigh would be a testing examination and they remain confident they will quickly adapt to the more rugged approach of Championship football.

“Everyone is working hard for each other – it was just the discipline and a few decisions that led to us losing our way,” he added.

“They’re a good side as they showed last season but I thought we could come here and do a job.

“We did that in the first half but we then caught up in a niggly game and it just wasn’t good enough to be honest.

“We’ll have to look forward to Whitehaven now and put things right.

“It’s our first home game of the season and hopefully we’ll give the fans something to shout about.”