5TH TACKLE July 1st. 2014 | Page 16

Warrington Wolves 50-24 Bradford Bulls

Bradford made a lively start until a dropped ball by Luke Gale gave Warrington the initiative with Ben Harrison plunging over after O'Brien was stopped short but Stefan Ratchford hit the post with the straightforward conversion attempt.

Warrington were 10-0 up after seven minutes with Mickey Higham's midfield surge allowing Ryan Atkins to go over from O'Brien's teasing kick. This time Ratchford made no mistake.

The Bulls had lost on their previous five visits to Warrington and another defeat looked inevitable when O'Brien took Ratchford's inside pass to make it 16-0 after 13 minutes.

The Bulls finally got themselves on the scoresheet five minutes before the break with Kearney supporting Lee Gaskell's half break to round Matty Russell in style with Gale's conversion cutting the gap to 16-6. Kearney was outjumped by Joel Monaghan from Ratchford's kick almost straight from the restart for the centre to score for his fifth match in a row and extend the lead to 22-6.

Skipper Ben Westwood took Higham's pass to stretch over from short range and virtually end the Bulls' hopes after 45 minutes. Monaghan grabbed his second courtesy of O'Brien's unselfishness from Ratchford's incisive break to stretch the advantage to 34-6, with three tries in five minutes.

Adrian Purtell did manage a solo try for Bradford on the hour before Adam Sidlow's dropped pass tossed away another chance. O'Brien shot over for his second try after 65 minutes with Gale then wasting another opportunity for the Bulls.

Ratchford and Atkins then created a try for Evans as Warrington ran up their biggest Super League score of the season. The hard-working Tom Olbison burst through for Bradford's third try six minutes from time before Gaskell's kick brought a late effort for Jay Pitts to give the scoreline more respectability.