Matterson wants to bounce back against Bulls

Castleford boss Terry Matterson has warned his team not to underestimate Bradford, despite the Bulls’ heavy defeat to St Helens last week.

Matterson takes his side to the Grattan Stadium for the SKY televised clash on Friday, with the Tigers also looking to bounce back after their defeat against Warrington last time out.

He said: “It’s not really about what Bradford do, I can only be concerned or influence what we do. We opened our season really well with our win at Headingley but we slipped a little from that standard against Warrington and paid the price. I felt that the game was very evenly matched but we gave them a couple of opportunities and credit to them, they grabbed them with both hands which probably cost us the match.

“What we will have to do on Friday is lift the bar again because I’m sure that Bradford will be smarting from last weeks defeat and they will be determined to secure a victory in front of their fans. It’s only two games into the season and anyone who writes Bradford off will do so at their peril, they have some very talented players in their squad and we won’t underestimate them.”

Castleford established a ten point lead at The Jungle only to let it slip against Tony Smith’s Warrington side on Saturday, while Bradford were comprehensively beaten 38-6 on their own patch by Saints on Sunday.

Matterson added: “We have had a look at where we went wrong against Warrington and the guys are determined to get back to the standard that we set against Leeds so it should be another keenly contested. 

“Dean Widders will be missing but the line up isn’t going to change too much. Ryan Clayton had a great off season and he is back in the squad after recovering from injury.”