Ace marksman Paul Deacon kicked eight goals from as many attempts to bring up his century of points for the season and help Bradford Bulls pull four points clear at the top of Super League.

Castleford went down to their fifth defeat in six games but they made the near-full strength champions work hard for their eighth win in nine matches in a defence-dominated match at a damp Jungle.

Both sides struggled to cope with a slippery surface and chances were few and far between until Bradford ground down their gritty opponents and two late tries gave them a flattering margin of victory.

The Bulls were indebted to Deacon, who succeeded with all his four penalty attempts and also improved tries from centre Lee Gilmour, substitute Nathan McAvoy (2) and skipper Robbie Paul.

Bradford looked the sharper side but the Tigers, rejuvenated by a 12-day break, gave nothing away in defence for the first hour and for long periods looked capable of springing a shock.

In a first half dominated by the boot, the Tigers would have been level had Wayne Bartrim kicked his goals but he managed just one success from his three attempts, one of which rebounded back off an upright.

The breakthrough for Bradford came on the stroke of half-time when Castleford found themselves short of numbers on the right and Gilmour took an excellent return pass from winger Lesley Vainikolo to plunge over at the corner.

Castleford quickly bounced back with a superbly-crafted score of their own.

Skipper Danny Orr took a pass from substitute Andy Lynch on halfway to pierce the Bulls defence and he judged his kick to perfection for left winger Darren Rogers to finish clinically at the corner.

Bartrim's touchline conversion narrowed the gap to just four points but the Tigers' good work was undone within five minutes when winger Waine Pryce spoiled an otherwise splendid performance by failing to clear Deacon's kick over the try line, leaving McAvoy with the simplest of tries.

Deacon maintained his 100 per cent accuracy with the difficult conversion to take his points tally for the season to 99 and he added a 64th-minute penalty to bring up his century and put his side into a 20-8 lead.

The Tigers almost scored a second try when centre Michael Eagar slid across the line but he lost control of the ball in Tevita Vaikona's tackle and that proved to be their last chance.

Paul grabbed a solo try and Vainikolo produced the highlight of the match when he slid onto a loose ball and quickly turned defence into attack with an amazing run up the touchline before releasing McAvoy for his second try.