Bulls flyer Okunbor motivated by marker as he aims to erase past pain at Halifax

BULLS winger Jayden Okunbor feels his side can put a real marker down with a win at bitter rivals and Betfred Championship leaders Halifax this afternoon, while also exorcising some demons. High-flying Bradford suffered a poor 14-10 defeat at The Shay towards the end of last season, a win that virtually guaranteed survival for the struggling hosts and cost the visitors any chance of finishing second and sealing a home play-off. But the Panthers have turned things around spectacularly since and are now the team to beat in the second-tier, unbeaten and leading by three points at the summit.

Bulls, who have a game in hand, could move back into the top four with a win tomorrow, while simultaneously showing that their neighbours are fallible after all. Okunbor told the T&A: “We want to win every game possible. “But if we can knock them off their perch in first, it will be good for us as a team and club for our confidence going forward.



“We know how tough it’s going to be, and we also know how big the game is for the city of Bradford and the town of Halifax . “We’re going to try and do our jobs to the best of our ability and if we get the win, we can build on that going into our next few games.” Bradford could genuinely have pushed Halifax towards a shock relegation last season, but they were humbled by the Panthers in September during Okunbor’s first experience of the derby .

He reflected: “Last time we faced Halifax, we went into the game pretty confident, but they turned up to the occasion better than us. “We can’t let that happen again this time and we want to rewrite what happened then. Bulls were big favourites in this fixture last season, but Halifax played brilliantly to claim a surprise victory.

(Image: Tom Pearson.) “We want to walk away with the win and it’d be good to do it at Halifax’s home.” Okunbor has played in other derbies before, like the Hull one last season, so he knows players need no motivation to get up for a game like this.

He said: “It’s Good Friday, a Bank Holiday for everyone, so we’re expecting a big crowd. “It’s awesome that it’s ended up being a rivalry game for us and we know how well they’re going at the moment. “The team’s up for this game and it’s one we’re very excited for.

” Bulls have also had nearly a fortnight to focus on this huge derby fixture, with last weekend’s bye in the league meaning they have not played since beating Sheffield in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup quarter finals on April 6. Bulls enjoyed themselves last time out, beating Sheffield 36-20 in the 1895 Cup 12 days ago. (Image: Tom Pearson.

) Okunbor is pleased with how the schedule has panned out, saying: “It’s good to be coming off the bye. “ I think that came at a pretty good time for us , especially with us having a couple of good wins in a row before it. “We’ve been able to put a lot of focus into this game and I think everyone’s feeling pretty fresh for it.

“We’ve got a few troops coming back for the game too, so it’s all pretty exciting.”.