Wakefield 24 Bulls 36

David Solomona hit back at the boo-boys in the best way possible by delivering some magic to set up this Bulls win.

The Kiwi ace was booed and jeered with every touch on his first return to his former club.

He put in a brilliant performance and came off for his first breather after just 29 minutes, a luxury he was rarely afforded while in Wildcats colours.

But by the point the second-rower had departed, he had already done so much to hurt the hosts, having a hand in all of their first three tries to set up an 18-6 advantage and remind people why the Bulls moved heaven and earth to prise him away from Belle Vue.

Solomona created the first for Lesley Vainikolo with a deft drop off on 13 minutes, the big winger barrelling towards the line well, and then in the restart set he was getting in on the action himself.

The New Zealander backed up James Evans after the centre had picked up Paul Deacon's clever sliced kick behind the static Wakefield defence and touched down to irritate the Wakefield fans further.

Solomona's quick play-the-ball after a typically fulsome run then set up the position for Ian Henderson's score, the hooker darting away to catch some lazy defenders sleeping, and the Bulls were in command.

Wakefield supporters had voiced an ironic cheer when Solomona had kicked out on the full early on but he certainly got the last laugh with his cameo as Bradford came away with the two points despite the hosts' valiant fightback.

Yesterday's match was a strange encounter. It should have been a full-blooded West Yorkshire derby but the intensity wasn't there and it was a slow-paced match.

That was understandable though given the fact Wakefield had played Huddersfield on Friday and Bradford were backing up from a hugely tough match against Leeds a day earlier.

If anyone ever needed proof that too much is asked of Super League players by playing twice over the Easter weekend then this was it.

You can't fault the players and the effort was there but they obviously looked jaded and there wasn't much energy about.

What resulted was a catalogue of errors in a game that was low on quality.

Wakefield were the worst offenders in the first half and it was no surprise that they were 24-6 down at the break.

Bizarrely though, they had had the majority of territory, forcing the visitors to drop out on four occasions.

The difference between the sides was that the Bulls were far more clinical with their possession and defensively better organised.

Apart from Matt Blaymire's 20th-minute try, the hosts never really looked like breaching the Bulls' line and they made some awful bloomers.

Jamie Rooney failed to reach touch with a penalty, Richard Moore knocked on in the first tackle from a tap restart while Brett Ferres did well to charge down a Deacon kick only to fumble as he tried to pick up the loose ball.

The real clincher for the Bulls came in first-half injury-time when Wakefield pressed again and seemed to have them on the rack out wide but Blaymire's final pass didn't find its intended target as Vainikolo intercepted and raced the length of the pitch.

That proved crucial as John Kear's men, with a strong wind now in their favour, launched a real fightback attempt in the second and it was the Bulls who started to shoot themselves in the foot.

After one defensive mix-up, Kevin Henderson got over the line and then Peter Fox got on the end of David March's kick to the corner to lift home spirits further.

Jamie Rooney missed both conversions but former Bull Adam Watene went close with one charge and a Ben Jeffries grubber caused further panic in the Bradford ranks, Nathan McAvoy eventually swatting clear for another drop-out after Ben Harris had made a hash of the first attempt.

The Bulls, who had Glenn Morrison off injured as well as James Evans, were relieved to see Michael Platt go over when they made a rare foray into Wakefield territory and Deacon converted before adding a penalty to settle nerves further.

Fox got another try after Ned Catic found space but Chris McKenna responded by getting on the end of Deacon's bomb after Vainikolo had challenged high in the corner.

Rooney got the final score late on in front of the posts which meant he could finally add another conversion - only his second of the afternoon.

Things could have been a lot closer if he'd had his kicking boots on. As Kear commented afterwards, six tries to five rather than 36-24 was the best way to look at this contest.

The main thing for Bradford was they got back on track with a win but it has been a punishing few days and there's more to come for the drained players with Hull KR arriving on Sunday.

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