Bradford 41-22 Castleford
Matt Orford provided a masterclass in attacking rugby as he helped Bradford to their first victory and eased the pressure on coach Steve McNamara.
The Bulls had gone into this game on the back of two defeats, including a heavy defeat to St Helens, but bounced back in style with a clinical rout over Castleford.
But the Tigers were left counting their losses after suffering a ruthless display and also lost key winger Richard Owen to a broken leg.
Two tries in the opening seven minutes set the ball rolling with Nick Scruton and Rikki Sheriffe giving the home side a 12-0 advantage.
Scruton burst through poor tackling by Ryan Hudson and Stuart Jones before rounding full-back Ryan McGoldrick.
Orford converted and soon he was lining up his second kick following a superb offload from Steve Menzies to put in Sheriffe.
Castleford tried to get back into it but Bradford restricted them with some excellent line defence, Ryan Hudson being denied.
But soon the Tigers were up-and-running after Rangi Chase’s kick was spilled by Sheriffe and Michael Shenton was on hand to ground the ball for a relieving score.
Bradford’s two score lead was soon restored though after Heath L’Estrange dummied and handed the ball to youngster Elliott Whitehead to power over.
Castleford’s collapse continued and Brett Kearney soon added another try to give the Bulls an unassailable eighteen point lead.
A mistake from Glenn Hall at kick-off though enabled Terry Matterson’s men an opportunity to score and Richard Owen collected Craig Huby’s delightful kick to grab the Tigers’ second.
The tide was all Bradford in the second half though as they ran in two further scores.
Dave Halley took advantage of a Sheriffe hack to cross and the Tigers’ woes were further compounded with the loss of Owen.
Their situation soon got worse when Kearney incisively danced his way through to grab his second of the night but they did salvage some pride when McGoldrick handed the ball to Steve Snitch to cross.
Ryan Hudson did salvage another consolation as Castleford tried to make the score respectable but it didn’t stop Paul Sykes scoring another Bulls try as they completed a magnificent victory.