Our errors led to defeat, insists coach

They were vanquished 56-12 at Odsal, despite trailing just 14-12 at half-time in their Qualifiers game.

Fans were furious with Joe Cobb’s performance, the referee who stood in for Richard Silverwood who was missing due to a groin strain.

He seemed to miss a raft of forward passes, at crucial points in the game, but Lowes insisted: “We made too many errors. End of story.

“We gave Widnes too much easy field position, everything we had done in the first half we didn’t do in the second.

“We spoke about handling certain Widnes players and playing certain areas of the field and we just didn’t do it in the second half.

“We gave ourselves way too much to do and I’ve said this since the Middle 8s was sorted, I do think Widnes are the best attacking side in the eight.

“If you give them time and space to play... 56 points says quite a lot.”

Widnes winger Patrick Ah Van scored a hat-trick against his former club while Joe Mellor also scored a treble.

It was Ah Van’s ninth try in five games against Bradford.

Widnes coach Denis Betts said: “He enjoys playing them.

“I had a little bit of a disagreement with one of the fans who kept calling him a big, fat so-and-so during the first half.

“When he went in for his second try I said ‘It doesn’t matter how fat it is does he, he can always score a try!

“Joe’s hat-trick try was outstanding too but he does that every day in training,” he said.

“What has been generated by these games is anxiety, as Bradford are pushing hard to gain something whilst we are trying to hold onto something and that can be more difficult.

“What’s more impressive for us is that they are a good side.

“I always felt they were the dark horses of this group, but what has been highlighted is that they haven’t had regular intensity.”