Wakefield 26-24 Bradford
Brough plays starring role in victory over Bulls
Danny Brough helped Wakefield beat Bradford at Belle Vue on Sunday afternoon.
In a weekend of rugby league, where shock results are prevalent, Wakefield helped to continue that trend by beating Bradford Bulls in a thrilling match at Belle Vue.
Danny Brough, who joined the club from rivals Castleford Tigers in the off-season, put in a man of the match performance for the home side by setting up a couple of tries, and kicking four all important goals, which was the deciding factor on who took home the points at full-time.
Wakefield better in first halfCoach John Kear will be satisfied with his side's first Super League outing, but knows there is still a long way to go yet, despite the club being touted as play-off contenders by some areas of the press. Wakefield have spent most of the last few seasons staving off relegation, rather than fighting for the play-off places, so the fans will be refreshed to have such a positive start to the new season.
Tony Martin, the Wildcats new Australian centre, began proceedings for the home side kicking an early penalty goal, however the club soon found themselves behind thanks to a Terry Newton try.
Great Britain international forward Sam Burgess, who flourished both on the club scene and in the international arena last season, delivered the perfect offload for Newton to take in and cross for the first try of the afternoon. Paul Deacon added the conversion attempt.
But Wakefield, renowned for their fighting ability in 2007, went ahead thanks to a Ryan Atkins try. Brad Drew, Brough, Martin and Sam Obst helped create space for the winger, who went over the try-line in the far left-hand corner.
And Wakefield were soon in even more control when ex-Huddersfield winger Paul Reilly, tagged on another try to give Wakefield the lead going into half-time.
Second half one to remember?
The second half was more memorable than the first with 34 points being scored. Luke George scored the first try of the second half, thanks to Danny Brough setting him up.
Michael Platt got the Bulls back into it, to give them hope of overtaking the Wildcats, but that thought was soon put to bed with George's second try of the game, with Brough kicking the conversion, and a penalty goal later on.
Terry Newton crossed again to continue the hope that the Bulls could snatch something, but Brough's second penalty goal ensured that Wakefield were out of reach despite Paul Sykes crossing with minutes remaining to close the gap to just two points.
