Eagles defeated by Bulls

09/03/2020

Sheffield Eagles suffered a 28-0 defeat to a determined Bradford Bulls at Tetley’s Stadium on Sunday evening.

Brad Gallagher notched a first half brace for the hosts, who went into the break 10-0 in front.

Three converted scores in just over 20-minutes sealed the win for Bradford after the restart.

The Eagles were forced to make changes from their golden point victory over Batley Bulldogs.

Full-back Josh Guzdek and winger Rob Worrincy both missed out, which meant Izaac Farrell went to the number one spot, centre Zack McComb switched to the wing and Aaron Brown filled in at stand-off for Farrell.

Menzie Yere was also given his first start of the year after shaking off an injury.

Gallagher opened the scoring after four minutes for the Bulls, with Rowan Milnes adding the conversion.

Sheffield responded by building pressure inside the Bradford half. A grubber from Anthony Thackeray was collected by Brandon Pickersgill but he couldn’t escape the in-goal.

Despite this, the Eagles couldn’t capitalise on the territory as the hosts defended well before regaining possession from another Thackeray kick.

Gallagher completed his brace just after the half-hour mark, as he was first to a kick in behind the Eagles rearguard. Milnes couldn’t add the extras.

With the Eagles ten-points down at the break, Mark Aston will have been hoping for a strong start from his troops in the second half but he almost got the complete opposite.

After conceding a penalty on the second tackle, Bradford pushed forward and were inches away from extending their lead but McComb forced Matty Dawson-Jones to knock-on as he went for the whitewash.

As the hour mark approached, Bradford did get that third try and it came courtesy of Pickersgill. Milnes converted.

Jordan Lilley and Dawson-Jones both added tries in the final quarter as the Bulls gained the two competition points.

By Dan Fowler, photo by Alex Coleman