Championship aspect Bradford Bulls dramatically upset Tremendous League workforce Castleford Tigers with an 18-16 victory within the third spherical of the Problem Cup.
Tries from James Donaldson and Matty Gee helped the hosts take an early lead, earlier than Tom Holmes ran nearly your entire size of the sector unchallenged to make it 17-0 at half-time.
However Castleford roared again after the break to cut back the deficit to 17-12, earlier than the hosts snuck in a drop-goal to make sure a Cas transformed attempt wouldn’t end in defeat.
Tex Hoy gave Cas a last-gasp likelihood to take the sport to golden-point additional time by dancing by way of Bradford’s defence for a attempt, however his conversion so as to add an additional two factors drifted agonisingly huge.
Bradford labored tirelessly to maintain up the early strain on their opponents and deserved to go forward when Donaldson drove over the road from Mitch Souter’s neat cross.
Moments later, a intelligent steal of the ball by James Meadows led to a fragile cross by Joe Keyes, which Gee confirmed starvation to dive onto and rating.
Castleford’s defence continued to look ragged and uncomfortable as they repeatedly gave away penalties in Danny McGuire’s first aggressive match as head coach, with Meadows opting to strike between the posts for an additional two factors.
An opportunistic drop-goal from Keyes saved the scoreboard ticking over, earlier than Holmes collected a unfastened ball and accelerated away brilliantly, simply because the guests had dedicated excessive up the pitch.
Cas lacked leading edge, however lastly scored within the second half when Jeremiah Simbiken touched over from Daejarn Asi’s delicate toe-poked kick.
Three minutes later, Josh Simm reignited Castleford’s perception after capitalising on a unfastened offload by Bradford, with Hoy changing to cut back the deficit to 17-12.
Simply as Bradford tried to wind down the clock, Jordan Lilley eased the house aspect’s nerves by including one other drop-goal.
However Hoy despatched shockwaves round Odsal Stadium when he confirmed nice tempo and trickery to spook the Bulls backline and put his aspect inside attain of additional time.
Hoy, who seemed damage as he touched the ball down, then obtained as much as take the all-important kick, however he fell to his knees in agony because it sunk narrowly huge of the posts.
