Lee Gaskell's hat-trick of tries was not enough to stop relegated Bradford Bulls falling to a 32-18 defeat against Castleford Tigers this afternoon.

Andy Lynch and James Clare crossed over within 10 minutes of each other early on to put the hosts into a strong early lead, while some quick hands saw Luke Dorn add a third try shortly after.

Gaskell found the try-line for his first of the game on 34 minutes, but Cas regained their hefty cushion before the interval courtesy of captain Michael Shenton, who strolled through to add his name to the scoresheet.

Once more Gaskell looked to pull the Bulls into the contest when he added another two tries in the space of 10 second-half minutes, leaving his side just six points behind having kicked over the extras.

But there was to be no comeback, with Daryl Clark rounding off the scoring 20 minutes from time to lift the Tigers up to second in the Super League table.