Bradford 10-30 St Helens

Lee Gilmour (r) celebrates his try

St Helens got the better of Powergen Challenge Cup holders Bradford Bulls once again to reach the fifth round of this year's competition.

Saints made an impressive start with tries from Mark Edmondson and Sean Long, before Bradford's Paul Deacon made it 14-6 with his side's first try.

But Saints never allowed their opponents to get back into the game.

Lee Gilmour, Martin Gleeson and Paul Sculthorpe added further tries for Saints as they eased to victory.

Saints have dominated the Bulls in recent times with five major final victories over their rivals, plus a 35-0 Super League win last June.

And it was the second time in three years that the Bulls, who had looked impressive in their last two matches against Penrith Panthers and Wigan, had fallen at the first hurdle.

Sean Long gave a man-of-the-match performance for Saints and, with Keiron Cunningham back to his best, they too strong for the Bulls.

We weren't quite up to the challenge Bradford coach Brian Noble

The opening try came after 10 minutes, with Nick Fozzard making good ground from Cunningham's off-load for Edmondson to hold off the cover and touch down.

The visitors' second try came on 22 minutes when Lee Radford took too long to get the ball out of the tackle and the alert Long grabbed the pass and ran 50 metres to score.

Radford made amends eight minutes before half-time when he stole the ball from Paul Wellens to set up Deacon.

Trailing 14-6 at the break, Bradford tried to get back into the game, but when Wellens produced a stunning try-saving tackle to deny Paul Johnson, their grasp on the trophy was well and truly relaxed.

Former Bradford second-rower Gilmour finished off a superbly worked move to score a 56th-minute try.

Centre Gleeson brushed aside an attempted tackle by Stuart Reardon to grab another on 62 minutes.

I thought Bradford played well and they threw a lot at us St Helens coach Ian Millward

Although Radford claimed a consolation try four minutes before the end, Saints had the final say with Sculthorpe grabbing a fifth try, to which he added the goal.

St Helens coach Ian Millward says his team are desperate to reach another Powergen Challenge Cup final.

"We're a bit better prepared this year and nothing less than the final will be good enough," he said.

"We had a tremendous pre-season and I expected to win today. But it was tough. Bradford played well."

Bradford coach Brian Noble conceded that his side were outplayed by St Helens.

"I thought Saints were very smart. They did some good things to us and we weren't quite up to the challenge.

"I think we were in their half only once or twice and we panicked a bit when we tried to make things happen.

"I don't think there is anything too drastically wrong with us. We'll stick together and regroup," he said.

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Bradford: Withers, Vaikona, Kohe-Love, Johnson, Vainikolo, L. Pryce, Deacon, Anderson, Smith, Fielden, Radford, Peacock, Langley. Replacements: Reardon, Bridge, Vagana, Parker.

St Helens: Wellens, Albert, Gleeson, Talau, Feaunati, Hooper, Long, Fozzard, Cunningham, Edmondson, Bennett, Gilmour, Sculthorpe. Replacements: Higham, Mason, Joynt, Hardman.

Referee: Karl Kirkpatrick (Warrington)