Jordan Lilley kicked a dramatic late drop-goal as Bradford Bulls bounced back from their opening-day defeat at Sheffield Eagles to edge Halifax Panthers 27-26 in the Betfred Championship.

Tries from Lilley, Dan Fleming, Brandon Pickersgill and David Foggin-Johnson, plus three goals from Danny Brough, helped set up Lilley’s grandstand finish.

Halifax had established an early 14-point lead through tries from James Saltonstall and Scott Grix, and added further second-half efforts from Gadwin Springer and Greg Worthington to claw back into the match, with Connor Robinson kicking four goals.

Anthony Thackeray scored two tries as Sheffield built on their win over Bradford by winning 20-14 at York City Knights.

Tyler Dickinson also crossed for Mark Aston’s men with Izaac Farrell firing three conversions and a penalty, while York’s scorers were Will Jubb, Kieran Dixon – who also kicked one goal – and Liam Salter.

Featherstone Rovers won 36-6 at Swinton Lions with tries from Gareth Gale, Tom Holmes, Thomas Minns, Brad Day, John Davies, and a double from Ben Blackmore.

Fa’amanu Brown kicked four conversions for Rovers while Swinton responded through a Mitch Cox try, converted by former Rovers halfback Martyn Ridyard.

Andrew Bulman’s brace helped Whitehaven to a 29-20 win over Newcastle Thunder, with the hosts other tries coming from Connor Holliday, Karl Dixon and Lachlan Walmsley – who added three conversions and a drop goal.

Newcastle’s tries came from Kieran Gill, Jack Johnson, Sam Wilde and Alex Clegg, as well as two Josh Woods goals.

In Saturday’s action, Dewsbury Rams built on a four-point half-time lead to beat Widnes Vikings 22-14 at Widnes’ DCBL Stadium.

A double from Andy Gabriel eased the Rams to victory along with tries from Joe Martin and Will Oakes and two conversions from Paul Sykes.

The Widnes points came from tries from Matty Smith, Lloyd Roby and Steve Tyrer, who added a conversion.

Batley Bulldogs scored nine tries in a 48-10 win over Oldham, with Ben White and Johnny Campbell each crossing twice and further tries coming from Josh Tonks, Luke Hooley, Jodie Broughton, Jack Logan and Elliott Hall, along with five Tom Gilmore goals.

Oldham responded through Lewis Charnock and Tommy Brierley and a Dan Abram conversion.

Toulouse Olympique XIII were handed a 24-0 win over London Broncos, who decided not to travel to France for the fixture.