PROUD Giants coach Tony Smith has heaped massive praise on his players for their heroic efforts against leaders Bradford Bulls.
His patched-up Huddersfield side may not have left Odsal with another major scalp in the bag, having lost 30-16.
But Smith was able to put the disappointment of defeat to one side to acknowledge the brave effort of his players against the in-form Bulls who were 30-6 up at half-time..
And quite right, too.
After all, the Giants' boss was forced to send a battered squad into battle lacking the likes of inspirational trio Jamie Bloem, Paul Reilly and Marcus St Hilaire, while several others were forced to take the field still nursing injuries.
For instance, it was questionable whether Steve McNamara or Jarrod O'Doherty should have played when they were still struggling with calf muscle and sternum injuries respectively.
To make matters worse, three other players had been forced to leave the field before half-time with injuries which ruled them out for the remainder of the contest.
The most serious was Jonathan Grayshon with a suspected broken ankle, while Paul March (ribs) and Iain Morrison (concussion), also had to be withdrawn.
This meant the Giants had to play the final 21 minutes without the luxury of any substitutes, and at one stage were down to 12 men as Ben Roarty received treatment for a head wound.
It was, therefore, no wonder that Smith was struggling to contain his delight that his wounded warriors were able to prevent the Bulls from scoring at Odsal for the entire second half.
"The spirit and effort shown by my boys yesterday was unbelievable," said Smith.
"This was real backs-to-the-wall stuff, and if I had to be sent into the trenches I would want all of these players alongside me.
"I was proud of what they did and I'm sure the fans were equally as proud of their team.
"I always knew this had the potential to be an exceptionally difficult game, because it was on the back of a period of three games in 10 days.
"That's a tough ask in anyone's book.
"But it was always going to test the strength of our small squad to its absolute limit, and that's exactly what it did.
"Luckily, I've got a very special bunch of players at the club and they didn't let anyone down."
The opening exchanges didn't bode well for the visitors as they conceded a point a minute in the opening 24 minutes.
Paul Deacon gave the Bulls the lead with a third-minute penalty and by the seventh minute the advantage had been extended to 8-0 as Bradford threatened to follow up their midweek 60-6 thrashing of London Broncos in the capital with another big win.
Deacon was again the Giants' chief executioner, smartly kicking ahead for Stuart Reardon to pick up and stroll over.
Deacon added his second goal and repeated the act six minutes later after Bradford had grabbed try No2.
But a minute earlier it could have been totally different.
Brandon Costin appeared to have chipped over the defence to perfection and clearly had visions of following up to score.
However, almost out of nowhere, Lesley Vainikolo came across, mopped up the danger and immediately turned defence into attack.
Before the Giants had been able to dwell on `what might have been' from Costin's kick, Deacon had raced through almost effortlessly to score.
An 18th-minute rib injury to March after an obstruction by Paul Anderson added to the Giants' woes and two minutes later Deacon again cut through to add another four-pointer.
By the 23rd minute Morrison had left the action with concussion and seconds later Vainikolo was over in the corner. It was 24-0.
Grayshon was the next casualty with a suspected broken ankle in the 28th minute.
But, thankfully, that was to prove the final act of this particular Huddersfield nightmare.
There was one more major downside just before the interval when Lee Radford capitalised on Matthew Whittaker's failure to collect a high bomb and scored near the corner in the 37th minute.
Yet that apart, the remainder of the contest belonged to the Giants.
The spark to the revival came almost inevitably from ex-Bulls man Costin five minutes before the break.
From a scrum move close to the Bulls' line, O'Doherty fed his fellow countryman to give Costin a record-equalling ninth successive Super League try, converted by McNamara.
Radford's late first-half score made it 30-6 at the break, but the Giants dominated for the rest of the match.
Stanley Gene twice came close to scoring and Costin was held up on the line as the visitors ran their hosts ragged.
And it was no great surprise when McNamara fed Darren Fleary to plunge over from 10m out on the hour mark.
But the sweetest moment was reserved for nine minutes later when Paul White marked his Super League debut with the try of mthe game.
Much of the credit, however, has to go to Ben Cooper who somehow took the ball off Chris Bridge in a one-on-one tackle when the former Giants half-back charged over the line.
Cooper immediately raced upfield and fed White on the Giants' 20 who outpaced the cover to score what will hopefully be the first of many tries at this level.
MATCH FACTS
GIANTS: Cooper, O'Hare, Costin, Bailey, Whittaker, Gene, March, Fleary, Turner, Gannon, Morrison, Roarty, O'Doherty; Grayshon, McNamara, Slicker, White
BULLS: Reardon, Gilmour, Naylor, Hape, Vainokolo, Deacon, Vagana, Smith, Anderson, Gartner, Peacock, Forshaw; Bridge, Langley, Parker, Radford
KEY MAN: PAUL WHITE
THE young scrum half has had to wait a long time to make his Super League debut, but is was worth waiting for. Thrown in at the deep end following the 18th-minute departure of Paul March with a rib injury, White crowned an excellent display with a stunning long-range try.
KEY MOMENT:
WITH the score just 8-0 after 12 minutes, Lesley Vainikolo produced a superb defensive play to gather Brandon Costin's chip through when a Giants try looked likely. But from the Bulls' next set they grabbed a second try to make it 14-0 instead of a possible 8-6.
KEY STATS:
Bradford. Tries: Reardon (7mins), Deacon (13mins & 20mins), Vainikolo (25mins), Radford (37mins). Goals: Deacon 5 from 6.
Huddersfield. Tries: Costin (35mins), Fleary (60mins), White (69mins). Goals: McNamara 2 from 3.
Half-time: 30-6.
Referee: Ashley Klein (London).
Attendance: 11,368.
Scrums won: Bradford 7, Huddersfield 6.
Penalties conceded: Bradford 6, Huddersfield 14.
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