Bradford's woes continued as they were beaten by in-form Salford in their engage Super League clash at The Willows.

The Bulls handed bottom club Celtic Crusaders their first-ever Super League win five days ago and they were clearly nervous from the off.

Having led 4-0 at the interval and looking in control, they found themselves trailing midway through the second period when Stuart Littler crossed.

And an inspired display from much-coveted Richard Myler and further scores from Mark Henry and Luke Adamson put the Bulls to the sword.

Youngster Stefan Ratchford kept his place in the Reds' line-up following a string of impressive displays, while big prop Craig Stapleton failed to recover from a foot injury in time.

For the Bulls, Semi Tadulala missed out after failing a fitness test on his troublesome hamstring.

Bradford made a promising start with Salford's defence breached twice in one set of six. Centre Willie Talau was denied on the last tackle on one of those occasions as scrum-half Paul Deacon continued to boss with his kicking game.

Winger Dave Halley almost dived over in the eighth minute but superb tackling in the corner denied him and then Chris Nero on the follow-up.

Despite dominating, openings were few and far between and anxiety crept into the Bradford ranks with a series of unforced errors hampering any further progress.

Michael Worrincy had an effort ruled out after the outstretched hand of an advancing Reds defender gifted him the chance to score but he spilled the ball as he crossed the whitewash.

Confidence was clearly lacking on the Bulls' part but they kept asking questions of the Reds defence and got their just rewards with 27 minutes on the clock.

Deacon received the ball and slid a clever kick through. Centre Paul Sykes shot behind the defensive line and crashed onto the ball but Deacon missed the resulting conversion.

Salford replacement Henry Paul broke well in the closing stages of the first period but, as he looked to find the telling pass, referee Phil Bentham blocked the advancing Phil Leuluai, who could do nothing other than crash into the referee.

Julien Rinaldi darted for the line four minutes before the break after showing a clever dummy but he spilled the ball as he stretched for the line, much to the frustration of the Bulls, who had dominated for long periods.

Bradford continued to finish their sets with strong kicks, allowing them to keep their stranglehold on the game and take a narrow lead into the interval.

Six minutes into the second half Bradford went close again but prop Andy Lynch was adjudged to have been held up over the line after a lengthy discussion between the referee and his touch judge.

Michael Platt then saved what looked a certain try at the other end when he raced after a Salford kick.

Myler looked favourite to gather the ball and score but, as he struggled to control the ball, Platt clipped his ankles to prevent the score.

Myler, 19, who was named in the England elite squad, was not to be denied, however, and took the defensive line on again before a lovely inside pass sent Littler over to level the scores in the 54th minute.

John Wilshere made no mistake with the conversion to give the in-form hosts the lead.

On the hour mark they scored again, this time Luke Adamson creating the try.

The second row, who capitalised on Steve Menzies' mistake as he tried to offload, took two defenders out of the game before finding Henry, who sprinted the length of the field and stepped past Platt on his way to the line.

And a third try arrived when Myler produced a lovely short ball for Adamson, who crashed over. Wilshere made it three out of three with the boot but, with 10 minutes to go, the visitors gave themselves a chance.

The Bulls worked the ball from left to right and Sykes hit a great line and sprinted home. Deacon further reduced the deficit with a successful conversion but Salford held firm to take the points.