Bradford (22) 28
Tries: Briggs 2, Sykes, L'Estrange, Jeffries
Goals: Ah Van 4

Salford (4) 14
Tries: Henry 3 Goals: Holdsworth

Winter signing Kyle Briggs has now run in three tries for Bradford Bulls

Bradford resisted a spirited second-half Salford comeback to earn their first win in seven league matches.

The Bulls led 22-4 at the break thanks to tries by Kyle Briggs, Paul Sykes, Heath L'Estrange and Ben Jeffries, winger Mark Henry replying for Salford.

Henry then crossed twice in six second-half minutes to complete his hat-trick.

But scrum-half Briggs' second try closed out victory, Patrick Ah Van adding his fourth kick of the afternoon to complete the job.

Salford were out to bounce back from being 'nilled' in last weekend's 25-0 cup exit at home to Hull KR.

But, having enjoyed their best win of the season in beating Bradford 56-16 in April at The Willows, this time the Reds were on the wrong end of the Bulls' revenge.

Bradford had first use of the stiff breeze and made it count with three tries in the last 10 minutes of the first half to effectively seal the outcome.

Stand-off Ben Jeffries, now in his second spell with the Bulls, combined superbly with half-back partner Briggs, to prove the star of the show as Bradford won for the first time since 3 April.

Ben Jeffries has been a good acquisition for us. He plays at speed and Kyle Briggs has found the benefit of him guiding the team around Bradford assistant coach Lee St Hilaire

And teenage prop Tom Burgess, the younger brother of Australian-based England international Sam, produced his best performance yet.

Sykes scored on his return for the Bulls in place of Gareth Raynor, who was starting a two-match ban for his illegal tackle on Sam Tomkins in last weekend's Challenge Cup defeat by Wigan.

Australian Henry also marked his comeback for Salford after four games out through injury - but his individual effort did not prove enough as the Reds slipped to 11th after their 10th league defeat in 15 games.

Bradford leapfrog above the Reds into ninth - now just two points adrift of that all-important top eight place.

Salford caretaker coach Phil Veivers expects the club to announce their new coach later this week.

Bradford assistant coach Lee St Hilaire:

"The players certainly did talk about not getting embarrassed the way they did at Salford.

"Ben Jeffries has been a good acquisition for us. He plays at speed and Kyle Briggs has found the benefit of him guiding the team around. He's not afraid to go to the line and I think he frightens teams with his speed.

"And I thought Tom Burgess was awesome with the ball. Super League is finding out how good he is. He's steadily progressing without falling in love with himself. He's gradually finding his feet."

Salford caretaker coach Phil Veivers:

"With the wind against us, if we could have held them to 10-4, it would have made it a bit more enjoyable in the second half.

"At 22-4, we had a mountain to climb but it wasn't insurmountable. We got a bit of a roll-on and scored a couple of tries.

"But we hurt ourselves by coughing up a lot of cheap ball which put us under pressure."

Bradford: Royston; Crookes, Ah Van, Whitehead, Sykes; Jeffries, Briggs; Lynch, Diskin, Hargreaves, Elima, Olbison, Langley.

Replacements: L'Estrange, Kopczak, Donaldson, Burgess.

Salford: Patten; Broughton, Ratchford, Gleeson, Henry; Smith, Holdsworth; Cashmere, Sneyd, Boyle, Nero, Anderson, Wild.

Replacements: Jewitt, Neal, Paleaaesina, Sidlow.

Attendance: 12,487.

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury).

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