HUDDERSFIELD Giants took one massive step back after taking two forward as they were emphatically beaten at home by the Bulls.

After ending their nightmare slump with successive wins against Catalan Dragons and Salford City Reds, Paul Anderson’s men came crashing back down to earth with an almighty bump.

The defeat means the Giants still need one more win to secure a place in the top eight Super League play-offs.

But on the evidence of this display, the thought of having to pick up the pieces at Warrington in 13 days’ time or at home to Leeds Rhinos isn’t an attractive one.

The home fans were quite rightly far from impressed with the way the game was handled by referee Thierry Alibert. His performance was erratic at best.

However, the Frenchman wasn’t the one dropping the ball at almost every opportunity, missing crucial tackles or giving away silly penalties.

Quite simply, the Bulls dominated from start to finish and thoroughly deserved their success, making their intentions clear straight from the start.

In the opening exchanges, the visitors had the better of it, forcing a Giants drop-out in the third minute and then seeing former Newsome Panthers junior Jason Crookes just fail to touch down from a grubber kick to the corner moments later.

But a minute later and on their first attack, Huddersfield took the lead.

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A strong Brett Ferres break put the Bulls on the back foot and seconds later Danny Brough and Greg Eden combined for Joe Wardle to show tremendous strength to touch down under heavy pressure. Brough converted and the Giants had made the prefect start.

Not that it affected their visitors, however.

Roared on by the best Bradford backing in years, the Bulls continued to be a real threat, with the Giants forced to defend their own line for their lives.

A superb Leroy Cudjoe cover tackle denied Crookes a certain try in the 11th minute, but six minutes later the visitors weren’t to be denied as Shaun Ainscough collected Karl Pryce’s pass to stroll over in the corner for Luke Gale to land the touchline goal.

With Huddersfield having made a catalogue of errors inside their own half, it was the least the Bulls deserved.

A 24th-minute Tommy Lee 40-20 kick should have provided the Giants with some much-needed impetus, but that failed to provide a spark and they were made to pay.

After a couple of harsh calls from Alibert, the Bulls took play to their opponents line for Matt Diskin to collect the ball 15m out.

Despite the Giants appearing to hang back after it looked as if Diskin was about to be penalised for crossing, the hooker took full advantage to charge over under the posts for a second converted try. Yet whether it should have been awarded or not, the lead was certainly deserved.

With Huddersfield making so many errors, they hadn’t earned the right to be in control.

And two minutes before the break, the Bulls' advantage was up to 12 as Gale capitalised on a loose ball to charge over for a try under the posts he had no problem converting.

Bradford were 18-6 ahead at the break and well in command.

They continued to dominate at the start of the second half, twice forcing Huddersfield to drop-out inside the first four minutes.

At the same time, the Giants were also continuing from where they left off in the opening period by squandering possession at almost every opportunity.

Unfortunately, Alibert was also maintaining his erratic refereeing, which was to the fore when Jermaine McGillvary’s ‘try’ was ruled out for a forward pass, presumably from the one he received from Cudjoe!

But Bradford weren’t complaining and within moments had extended their lead on the back of a Gale 40-20.

From the scrum, the ball was worked to Brett Kearney to come into the line at just the right time and surge over for converted try No4. Great cover defence on Luke Robinson – after a Greg Eden break – denied the Giants on a rare attack with 15 minutes remaining.

And again the Bulls wasted little time taking full advantage as they took play upfield before finding Karl Pryce to stroll over.

With five minutes remaining Cudjoe twisted out of a tackle to score a second converted try for his side in the corner, but the Bulls had the final say when some ‘show-off’ rugby gave Pryce his second.

Gale failed to convert, although that failed to hide the Bradford delight.