Grix left to lament errors as Fax slip further off the Championship pace

Fax’s lingering hopes of contending for a top five Championship finish receded further into the distance as the Bulls won 24-20, having led 24-8 early in the second half.

The visitors fatally undermined their overall chances with an awful first half performance, repeatedly gifting John Kear’s side an attacking foothold, leaving their coach to rue familiar failings.

“We made eight individual errors in the first half and against a team like Bradford, it’s just not going to happen for you if you do that,” said Grix.

“The completion rate for the first half was down towards 50 per cent, which tells a story.

“But what it doesn’t tell you is where we made those errors; a couple on play two, turning the ball over on our line, one in possession close to our line.

“Because of that, the energy battle is lost.

“They’re a big set of lads and they’re going to undo you if you give them that much ball.

“We were still quite positive at half time, because we felt we could come back, despite everything.

“The second 40 we looked more like the team we’d seen in practice but having invested all that energy costs you at the back end of the game.

“At 24-20, we were right in it, but we made a couple of poor decisions and it slipped away.

“They’re still together in that dressing room, they still want it for each other and they’re still buying into what we’re trying to do.

“They’re hurting, and confidence is going to be an issue now until we get that win.

“But we put ourselves in a position to do that against a good team when we really had no right to because of what had gone before.

“We need to start better, cut the errors out and that will give us the chance to compete properly at the end of games.”

But Grix again emphasised that there was no easy way out of the club’s current slump, and ruled out the prospect of any transfer market quick fixes as, inevitably, the focus moves towards 2020 and beyond.

“No one is going to come and help us, we aren’t going to go out and sign four or five players mid-season to sort us out,” he admitted.

“It’s us; there’s no cavalry.

“It’s no good looking over our shoulders waiting for someone else to do it.

“I feel like a broken record at the moment, stressing what’s on the line for the players as individuals and the club.

“I’m not even thinking about the top five now, we just need to win some games.

“I think the team is coming to the end of it’s natural cycle and there are going to be some tough decisions to be made.

“A few of them have a lot of work to do.”