HE may be reluctant to admit it, but every win is edging Jimmy Lowes closer to a permanent position in the Warrington Wolves hot seat.

Lowes refuses to get carried away with a persuasive start that has brought him five wins in six games and qualified his praise for a significant success against play-off rivals Bradford on Friday night, still citing areas that needed to be improved during the post-match Press conference.

Any attempts to bestow credit upon him are swiftly batted away. Lowes is a man from the ‘players win matches, coaches lose them’ school of thinking.

But what Lowes is doing is clearly working.

Friday’s game was the sort of undulating encounter that Wolves could so easily have lost, yet they found a way to win.

What displeased Lowes was the manner in which Wolves made hard work of disposing of his former club – coached by his good friend Steve McNamara and cheered on by his own son, a staunch Bradford fan.

Despite being the more creative side on show, Wolves trailed for 50 minutes.

That was not due to silly penalties - they conceded only two in the entire match - but over-ambition.

A scintillating exhibition of handling, pace and support play decimated their opponents, then a pass too many hit the floor when it would have been better to take the tackle and go again.

Bradford’s more efficient style got them early rewards against a Wolves side that conceded 20 points or more for the 11th successive game.

A stunning effort from Martin Gleeson did, however, give Wolves a foothold in the game at 12-0 down after 23 minutes.

Fed by Matt King, Gleeson bamboozled international teammate Michael Platt with a sidestep before racing clear for a 95-metre try.

“Distance wise it’s probably the furthest I’ve scored from. I’m not quick enough to score those long ones!” said Gleeson of a career first.

“I was looking for the wingers but they weren’t there so I had to take the full back on myself.

“I just managed to step past Platty, looked around and thanked God no-one else was chasing me!”

Gleeson would later score again and King grabbed his fourth try in three games after the interval.

The centre partnership hailed last year by Simon Moran as ‘potentially the best in Super League’ is starting to bear fruit.

And despite the deficit Wolves never gave in, finally putting it together in the second half – traditionally their stronger half under Lowes, having been their Achilles’ heel earlier in the season.

Even though he is confident Wolves’ defence is heading in the right direction, Lowes will not be entirely happy while some issues remain there.

But his leadership skills have impressed his peers and, with every win, his CV gets stronger.

Match facts.

Warrington Wolves 32 Bradford Bulls 28.

Wolves: Chris Hicks (1t, 6g); Chris Riley, Martin Gleeson (2t), Matt King (1t), Kevin Penny; Lee Briers, Michael Monaghan, Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi, Ben Westwood, Louis Anderson (1t), Vinnie Anderson. Subs used: Rob Parker, Mike Cooper, Simon Grix, Ben Harrison.

Bulls: Michael Platt (1t); Dave Halley, James Evans, Chris Nero (1t), Semi Tadulala (1t); Ben Jeffries (1t), Paul Deacon (4g); Joe Vagana, Iestyn Harris, Andy Lynch (1t), Simon Finnigan, David Solomona, Jamie Langley. Subs used: Chris Feather, Craig Kopczak, Matt Cook, Wayne Godwin.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

Scoring: Lynch pounces after Deacon’s grubber had rebounded off Morley’s boot, 6mins, Deacon converts, 0-6; Nero is in support after Solomona’s offload had put Tadulala clear, 9mins, Deacon converts, 0-12; Gleeson takes King’s pass and charges past Feather before side-stepping Platt for a sensational 90m try, 23mins, Hicks converts, 6-12; Tadulala catches out a static Riley to claim Deacon’s high torpedo kick, 39mins, Deacon converts, 6-18; Gleeson darts between Nero and Tadulala and stretches over after Briers had found him from a scrum, 40+mins, Hicks converts, 12-18; Platt beats Westwood and Hicks for a soft dummy half try after Penny had knocked on trying to prevent a 40/20, 42mins, Deacon converts, 12-24; Hicks surges past Kopczak and Platt in the middle of the field, 51mins, Hicks converts, 18-24; King superbly takes Monaghan’s missile pass and charges over, 56mins, Hicks converts, 24-24; Louis Anderson is put through a gap close to the line by Clarke, 63mins, Hicks converts, 30-24; Hicks lands penalty after Solomona’s late tackle on Briers, 69mins, 32-24; Jeffries finishes off Langley’s break with a diagonal run to the right corner, 71mins, 32-28.

Sin bin: Bulls: Solomona 68mins (late tackle).

Pens: Wolves 9 Bulls 2.

Scrums: Wolves 9 Bulls 8.

Attendance: 8,158.

Warrington Guardian top men: Gleeson 3pts, King 2pts, Clarke 1pt.

Interesting note: Wolves had lost their last five games against Bradford.