Workington Town’s season will go on for another week after they lost out in the League One play-off decider at the hands of Bradford Bulls.

Despite matching their hosts for much of the game in effort and endeavour, Town just ran out of steam in the end and it is the Bulls who will go up to the Championship after winning 27-8.

Town, who also lost out in the coin toss after the game, will now have to travel to Swinton Lions with several players missing.

It was a tough encounter from the kick off with no quarter given by either side and that has come at a cost at times, with Town finishing the game without Sean Penkywicz and Ollie Wilkes, with Fuifui Moimoi also facing disciplinary after being sent off.

Town began the encounter well with a superb defensive set but then back to back penalties gave the Bulls possession near the Workington line.

And you cannot give any leeway to this Bradford side as they whipped the ball out to the right and Jy Hitchcox, on dual-registration from Castleford, touched down but they could not convert from the touchline.

Town looked to make the most of a penalty of their own that brought them just short of the halfway line. They attacked down the left hand flank but unfortunately Scott Rooke was just bundled into touch short of the line.

An early kick from Jamie Doran had Elliott Miller haring after the ball but Bradford just wrapped up the danger inches from his own line.

But then Bradford broke away and it was only a superb tackle from Tyllar Mellor that wrapped up Matty Garside in the middle of the field.

However, it was Garside who turned villain moments later as he looked to interfere with play and was sent to cool his heels in the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Hitchcox and Elliot Minchella looked to play a series of one-twos down the right hand flank, looking to bamboozle the Town defence but they put in one pass too many and the ball came loose.

And Town thought they had levelled matters when Scott Rooke scored out wide but the ref had already blew up for an obstruction.

Ollie Wilkes had been leading from the front for Town and it was a huge blow when he had to leave the field, limping after a big collision, with Fuifui Moimoi taking his place.

It was getting tasty out there with Carl Forber on the receiving end of a bad tackle and when they picked up the penalty, Forber kicked it between the sticks to reduce the deficit to just two points.

But in the final few minutes of the half Bradford picked up two crucial tries. First George Flanagan went over from close range, with Keyes again off target with the two-pointer.

Keyes soon made up for it though as he dummied his way through the Town defence and used his pace to race 40-metres to touch down but this time Chisholm could not tag on the extras.

Moments later the hooter sounded for half time with Bradford leading the game 12-2.

Into the second half, and Town had to weather some early pressure from the Bulls but their goal-line defence was spot on as they kept their hosts out.

Then a nice kick from Doran had the Bradford players back on their own try line and when they knocked on moments later Town had a great chance.

First Miller and then Doran had good runs at the line but just when it looked as though they had used all their options, Doran put in a neat kick and Miller got himself in between the ball and the defence to scoop it up and score.

Forber slotted over the conversion and it was game on at Odsal.

A mistake in their own half from Workington could have let Bradford back in with Ross Peltier causing problems but the Town defence was superb, holding Gregg McNally up over the line and then forcing an error to get the ball back.

Town were then marched down the field thanks to two penalties for ball steals in succession but despite going close they could not get over the line.

A lofted kick was fumbled by Joe Hambley and Bradford got possession near the Town line and they used it well as they picked up on an overlap out on the right-hand side and Hitchcox took to the air again to score in the corner.

This time Dane Chisholm added the extras from the touchline and it was the Bulls with the wind in their sails.

Chisholm then added a drop-goal to extend Bull’s lead to eight points at 19-8 in the 67th minute.

Town were to spend the remainder of the game with just 12 men when Fuifui Moimoi was adjudged to have got his tackle all wrong on Liam Kirk and was given his marching orders.

The last few minutes were all Bradford and it was Hitchcox who picked up his hat-trick with another diving try in the corner, before Dane Chisholm wrapped up the points with the final score to leave the game at 27-8 and Bradford winning promotion.

Town must now regroup and face Swinton next weekend.