Coach James Lowes insists Bradford Bulls will go down fighting despite watching his side's relegation from Super League confirmed with Sunday's 52-26 defeat by Huddersfield Giants.
A sixth successive loss leaves the Bulls 13 points from safety with only six matches remaining and brings an end to a 40-year unbroken stay in the top flight of rugby league.
Lowes took over from Francis Cummins in June but is yet to taste victory and Ukuma Ta'ai's double and Jermaine McGillvary's hat-trick proved the difference in a high-scoring encounter.
Bradford have yet to announce whether there will be a High Court battle to win back the six points they were docked for going into administration but the players and their coach are resigned to life in the Championship in 2015.
"The lads definitely went down fighting and they will for the rest of the season," Lowes said.
"We know where we're at now, that's definite, but with that sort of character, they will get a win before the end of the year.
"I think the lads did themselves justice. I thought they went about their business really well.
"We just weren't clinical enough, particularly in the first half, which is a shame really because I thought we were slightly the better side for most of that half.
"I've been in this stadium a few times before, popping champagne - it's a sad sight.
"We want to play back at the very top and what we've got to do now is finish this season off in the right manner, prepare in pre-season for a tough Championship year, target the top four and then the top four of Super League and that gets us up."
Elsewhere St Helens returned to the top of the Super League table with a 58-16 win over the already-relegated London Broncos.
Centre Mark Percival grabbed 22 points in the crushing victory and Australian head coach Nathan Brown was delighted with the effort shown by his troops.
"I thought for about 30 minutes we were on form and when we scored just after half-time I thought it would be a blow-out. But credit to London - I thought their effort was outstanding and they hung in there," he said.
"In fact, considering the position they are in, I thought their attitude was excellent. I'm still pretty happy with the result overall.
"I wanted an improvement from last week and I think I got that, and some of our tries showed what we can do as a side."
Elsewhere Warrington Wolves fell short against Widnes Vikings in a 28-14 defeat that keeps the Wire fifth in the table, a point behind Castleford Tigers.
And head coach Tony Smith has demanded an improvement from his side in the final six rounds of the season if they are to seal a top-four finish ahead of the play-offs.
"Widnes took their chances well. We didn't take our opportunities, we didn't create enough," he said.
"We were boring and didn't ask enough questions. Our opponents were good and took their chances.
"I thought Widnes out-enthused us at crucial times and I think our team will respond and fix things up. We accept defeat and will work harder, improve and be stronger next week."
Source: AFP
