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Salford's former Bradford assistant coach Karl Harrison was denied a fairytale win over the Bulls, who sneaked home 25-18 at Odsal.

Lesley Vainikolo crashed through the Reds defence eight minutes from time for what could prove to be one of the most important scores of his career.

Bradford's fourth win in as many games took them to the top of the Tetley's Super League table, but they were forced to survive a torrid time before eventually claiming the spoils.

Little-fancied Salford were a 14-1 shot with the bookmakers to end their 17-year wait for a win at Odsal, where they suffered a club record 96-16 humiliation on their last visit four years ago.

But a hat-trick of tries from Australian stand-off Cliff Beverley put them in sight of one of the biggest upsets in Super League history as they led the champions 18-10 early in the second half.

Their sterling defensive efforts eventually took their toll as the Bulls finished in total control, but they fully deserved their standing ovation.

And Harrison was clearly the happier coach after coming under early-season pressure following four straight defeats.

The visitors made a dream start when Beverley scored the first of his tries inside the first set of six tackles.

Former St Helens winger Anthony Stewart collected the ball from the Reds' own kick-off and five tackles later Beverley raced on to Gavin Clinch's perfectly-judged grubber kick to pounce for the game's first try with just 45 seconds on the clock.

The half-backs repeated the act on 33 minutes, this time the ball bouncing back off the left-hand upright into Beverley's grateful arms, and Chris Charles kicked his second conversion to send the small travelling band of Salford fans delirious.

Bradford twice declined kicks at goal in order to subject the visitors' line to intense pressure, but Reds full-back Karl Fitzpatrick was at the heart of a splendid defensive effort.

Half-backs Paul Deacon and Leon Pryce and Vainikolo and Tevita Vaikona were always a threat, but the Bulls lacked the finishing touches and coach Brian Noble sent on skipper Robbie Paul midway through the first half in a bid to liven up his side's flagging attack.

The Salford defence cracked on 21 minutes when Deacon grabbed a superb solo try and they pounced for a second four minutes before the interval when Andy Kirk and Fitzpatrick got in a mix-up as they tried to gather Deacon's kick and substitute Jamie Langley swooped on the loose ball to send Pryce over.

Deacon, who made a hash of his first goalkick, put over the conversion to close the gap to just two points and enable the big home crowd to breathe a little easier.

But the unthinkable became more of a possibility three minutes into the second half when Salford increased their lead, with Beverley completing his hat-trick.

The Bulls defence appeared to be in control of the situation, when the stand-off stretched out of a two-man tackle to plant the ball over the line in front of the ecstatic Reds supporters.

Charles' third goal from as many attempts made it 18-10, but the deficit was back to two points on 49 minutes when Paul got second-rower Rob Parker romping through a gap in the Salford defence and centre Paul Johnson was in support to finish off the 60-metre move with a try, to which Deacon added his second goal.

Salford thought they had scored a fourth try when the alert Fitzpatrick followed up another Clinch kick to touch down, but referee Russell Smith, on the advice of one of his touch-judges, disallowed it for offside.

The champions were clearly shaken by Salford's spirited showing and they sensibly decided to kick for goal when awarded a penalty for holding down in the tackle on 57 minutes and Deacon levelled the scores with a successful kick.

Bradford then had a try disallowed when Vaikona was pulled back for a forward pass and Lee Radford failed to take a difficult pass from Vainikolo with the line at his mercy before Vainikolo powered over in typical fashion from 10 metres out to clinch a hollow victory.

The champions were still unable to relax and full-back Michael Withers made sure of the points with a late drop goal.

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