Huddersfield Giants 12 Bradford Bulls 34: Bradford maintain pursuit of play-offs but Giants jolted

Gale, at the heart of Bradford’s attacking play, scored a first-half try and added three conversions to leave the Bulls 18-6 up on Huddersfield Giants at the break.

Karl Pryce touched down twice after the interval to give the Bulls some breathing room as Huddersfield lost for the first time in three matches.

Bradford, battling Hull KR and Wakefield for the final top-eight spot, fell behind early on when ex-Bulls star Joe Wardle dived over from Greg Eden’s pass.

The Bulls were unlucky with some neat moves, notably on 11 minutes when a defence-splitting pass bounced off a post and to a Giants player.

But the match seemed to turn on 12 minutes when Huddersfield’s Keith Mason was let off with a warning for retaliation.

He threw the ball into the face of an opponent, which seemed to make Bradford up their game and go into the break deservedly ahead.

A flowing move involving Gale and Heath L’Estrange saw Shaun Ainscough dive over from Pryce’s final pass on 21 minutes.

Gale was also involved in the move which led to substitute Matt Diskin bagging a controversial try on 35 minutes.

Huddersfield complained about an obstruction in the build-up, but referee Thierry Alibert allowed play to carry on and the Bulls took full advantage.

Pryce and Brett Kearney then helped set up Gale between the posts on the hooter, with the former Harlequins RL player adding the extras.

Huddersfield, coached by former Bulls star Paul Anderson, gave Bradford a bigger percentage of away ticket sales to help their survival battle.

It prompted a big turnout, with Bradford fans making up about a third of the 7,477 crowd.

The Giants, looking for the win which would confirm their own play-off berth, were nearly back in it on 59 minutes.

Scott Grix started a flowing move which ended with Leroy Cudjoe putting Jermaine McGillvary in for a ‘try’, only for it to be ruled out for a forward pass.

The influential Gale then kicked a 40-20 just seconds later, with Kearney capitalising from the tap-in with a brilliant solo try in the left corner.

Gale converted and was at it again on 70 minutes when Pryce went over unchallenged to finish the contest with a 14-point individual haul.

Cudjoe scored a late converted consolation for Huddersfield, but Pryce had the last word on the hooter after an acrobatic pass from Elliott Whitehead.

Bulls coach Mick Potter demanded his players improve despite their third straight win.

Potter, working without wages in a volunteer role due to the club’s on-going cash problems, said: “I think there’s more to come.

“I was happy with the result and some of the individual things we did but not the overall performance. There are areas where we can improve.”

Huddersfield coach Anderson branded his team’s display “disgraceful”. He said: “In patches it looked like we’d just been thrown together. But the main thing I’m peeved about is our attitude to the game. We’ve had in the last few weeks a couple of low-intensity performances and we carried that through (yesterday) against a very determined team.

Huddersfield Giants: Eden, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, George, Grix, Brough, Crabtree, Lee, Mason, Ferres, Chan, Lawrence. Substitutes: Robinson, Fa’alogo, Faiumu, Patrick.

Bradford Bulls: Kearney, Ainscough, Pryce, Lulia, Crookes, Jeffries, Gale, Hargreaves, L’Estrange, Kopczak, Bateman, Whitehead, Langley. Substitutes: Manuokafoa, Burgess, Diskin, C. Walker.

Referee: Thierry Alibert (France).