YORK Knights were made to pay for a woeful first half as they came just short of a famous comeback against Bradford Bulls, falling to a 36-28 defeat at Odsal.
A Sam Cook-led fightback saw the Knights narrow the scoreline from 30-10 to 30-28 in a scintillating nine-minute burst late on, but Zac Fulton ensured the points stayed in West Yorkshire after touching down inside the final 90 seconds.
The Bulls were good value for their 18-10 half-time lead, fashioned via tries from Max Lehmann, Jayden Myers and a Kieran Gill double, having at times carved a shaky York defence open at will during the first 40 minutes.
In fact, it was only their ill-discipline that allowed both Brad Ward and the impressive Connor Bailey to touch down for the visitors, who had led 10-4 by the quarter-hour against the run of play.
Normal service resumed for Bradford after the break, with John Davies and Eribe Doro eking out their lead to 30-10 by the hour, but though late tries from Cook and Jimmy Keinhorst threatened a comeback from the Knights, Fulton’s late effort ensured a deserved victory for his side.
MATCH RECAP: Bradford Bulls 36-28 York Knights
Mark Applegarth made four changes, with influential trio Will Dagger, Liam Harris and Ata Hingano all picking up injuries during last weekend’s rout of Doncaster.
That saw Nikau Williams move from the centres to full-back for the first time, whilst Cook partnered youngster Jack Potter in the halves. Oli Field slotted into the centres, with Brenden Santi returning at prop and Will Jubb at hooker.
Bradford, wracked by injury and suspensions themselves, had half-back Jordan Lilley to thank for much of their attacking play, but former Knights forward Franklin Pele’s presence was somewhat subdued off the bench.
The Bulls fired their first warning shot with less than 60 seconds on the clock, with the Knights’ defence left at sixes and sevens from a Lilley grubber, and it was little surprise when they broke the deadlock three minutes later.
Having conceded a penalty for a high tackle, York initially appeared to have mopped up Lilley’s grubber into the right corner, but their edge defence was woeful as Lehmann tried his luck, gathering the loose ball before twisting and turning into the right corner.
Lilley’s touchline conversion flew well wide.
But the Knights found themselves on level terms on the 10-minute mark, with Santi wrestling back possession on the 10-metre line after the hosts had tried to be a bit too clever in backfield.
A neat left-wing shift saw Williams feed Keinhorst, who twisted his way out of a tackle before setting up Ward for the simplest of finishes into the left corner to bring the scores level.
Potter, taking over kicking duties, was narrowly wide, but that was his only miss from five attempts.
And in a flash, Applegarth’s side were in front, again profiting from Bradford’s ill-discipline.
Liam Tindall’s ball spill gifted the Knights possession on the 10, with Bailey collecting Potter’s bullet pass before bringing three defenders with him as he somehow managed to touch down just to the right of the posts.
Potter converted, handing the visitors an unlikely 10-4 lead on the quarter-hour.
Penalties became the story of the Knights’ half thereafter, reflected in the 7-1 count by the interval.
Williams’ kick-off flew out on the full before a combination of Joe Brown and Bailey gave away a six-again inside the 10-metre line, with nobody to be seen as Gill raced onto Lilley’s grubber to score to the left of the posts.
Lilley made no mistake from the conversion to fire the Bulls back in front.
The hosts continued to build pressure, with Ward giving away a penalty inside the 10-metre line before Jacob Gannon knocked-on as he looked to intercept, but Myers was caught high by Williams as he looked set to score into the right corner.
He was duly sent to the sin-bin eight minutes before the break, with the Bulls wasting no time in capitalising on their man advantage, with Gill powering through a couple of would-be tackles to score his second of the afternoon, handing his side a deserved 18-10 half-time lead.
Bradford started brightly after the break, and with Cook conceding the game’s first drop-out, they soon extended their lead.
A nice left-edge combination saw Keven Appo blast through some weak defence before laying the ball off for the supporting Davies to score.
York did have spells, with Field caught in the air as he looked to retrieve Cook’s kick, before the Bulls coughed up another penalty for interference at the play-the-ball, but Bailey was brought down narrowly short after a neat interchange with Potter.
But Bradford were further in front on the hour, as after Jordan Thompson had ben penalised for slowing down the play-the-ball, Doro proved too powerful from close range as he powered over to the left of the posts.
Lilley’s conversion opened up a 20-point cushion, but that only served to spring the Knights into action.
Ronan Michael broke through a gaping hole in the Bulls’ defence before unselfishly passing to the supporting Cook to score just to the right of the posts, and the half-back had his second just four minutes later with a trademark dummy beneath the posts.
Potter converted both, closing the gap to eight points with 10 minutes left to play.
A reinvigorated Knights showed no signs of slowing, with Cook’s stunning disguised pass releasing Williams, who raced 40 metres before throwing a looping cut-out pass for Keinhorst to dive across into the left corner.
That cut the gap to two, but a famous comeback was not meant to be for the Knights, with Bradford sealing victory inside the dying minutes.
Heads were in hands as Lilley was given a clean break, with a neat shift seeing Fulton crash across the whitewash to the right of the posts.
Nonetheless, a gutsy fightback from the Knights, who face another tough test at home to Swinton Lions next Sunday.
BRADFORD BULLS: Holmes, Lehmann, Myers, Gill, Tindall, Ott, Lilley, Bayliss, Souter, Doro, Fulton, Davies, Hallas.
INTERCHANGES: Pele, Appo, Peposhi, Makin
TRIES: Lehmann (4), Myers (20), Gill (24, 33), Davies (44), Doro (60), Fulton (78)
GOALS: Lilley 4/7
YORK KNIGHTS: Williams, Ward, Field, Keinhorst, Brown, Potter, Cook, Thompson, Jubb, Santi, Bailey, Gannon, Cunningham.
INTERCHANGES: Fitzsimmons, Teanby, Michael, Daley
TRIES: Ward (10), Bailey (14), Cook (65, 69), Keinhorst (74)
GOALS: Potter 4/5
SIN BIN: Williams (32, high tackle)
POINTS SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-4, 4-8, 4-10, 8-10, 12-10, 14-10, 18-10, 22-10, 24-10, 28-10, 30-10, 30-14, 30-16, 30-20, 30-22, 30-26, 30-28, 34-28, 36-28.
HALF TIME: 18-10
PENALTY COUNT: 10 | 6
YORK’S STAR MAN: Sam Cook. The Kiwi impressed on his first start at half-back and was key in orchestrating their late comeback.
REFEREE: Matty Lynn
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