Bridge builds road to victory as Bulls pay price for 'clocking off'

Chris Bridge came back to haunt his former club as his 24 points played a major part in an amazing second-half resurgence.

The former Great Britain Academy captain was allowed to leave Odsal in the winter and marked his return with two tries and eight goals from eight attempts as the Wolves roared back from the threshold of defeat to score 36 unanswered points.

When Iestyn Harris created a try for Stuart Riordon with a long pass and then tiptoed through for one of his own and a 24-8 lead, the Bulls seemed to be on course for a regulation victory.

What happened next established Warrington as a real threat to the big guns of Super League this season. Bridge's pass to Martin Gleeson set up Paul Noone for one try and Toa Kohe-Love went over three minutes later.

When Paul Wood went in from dummy half they were suddenly in the lead and they then had a stroke of luck when a clear forward pass went unnoticed by the referee in the lead-up to Danny Lima's try.

Bridge sidestepped his way over before Henry Fa'afili intercepted from Harris to complete Warrington's first double over Bradford in 25 years.

"We're learning to stick at it,'' said their coach, Paul Cullen. "To come back and play the way we did after Bradford had dominated was a clear indicator of our character.''

By contrast, Bradford's Brian Noble believed his side had clocked off too early. "I was very, very disappointed with the last 30 minutes,'' he said. "I'm pleased for Chris, but I wish it wasn't us he'd done it to.''

Lesley Vainikolo gave Bradford a good start when he was too strong to stop near the line but the Bulls paid the price for having only a modest four-point lead to show for their domination of the first half.

Bradford: Withers; Pratt, Reardon, K Pryce, Vainikolo; I Harris, Paul; Vagana, Deacon, Fielden, Peacock, Parker, Radford. Substitutes used: L Pryce, B Harris, Langley, Lynch.

Warrington: Grose; Fa'afili, Martin Gleeson, Kohe-Love, Gaskell; Bridge, N Wood; Liekvoll, Clarke, Hilton, Swann, Wainwright, Westwood. Substitutes used: Noone, Mark Gleeson, P Wood, Lima.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).