 | MATCH SUMMARY Bradford: (12) 20
Tries: Deacon 2, Vainikolo
Goals: Deacon 4 Saints: (18) 18
Tries: Gardner, Wellens, Gilmour
Goals: Lyon 3 |
Champions Bradford closed to within six points of St Helens after inflicting a third defeat in five Super League matches on the leaders at Odsal. Tries from Ade Gardner, Paul Wellens and Lee Gilmour put Saints 18-12 up at half-time, Paul Deacon and Lesley Vainikolo replying for the Bulls.
But Bradford kept Saints scoreless for the entire second half.
Deacon's second try after 56 minutes drew the Bulls level and the scrum-half's penalty clinched victory.
Saints, having lost at home to Hull last week, came out firing and were rewarded with an early try for Gardner, his 14th of the season and eighth in his last six games.
But Bradford hit back and appeared to have scored through Deacon, only for the video referee to rule there had been an obstruction by Jason Cayless in the build-up.
If that decision appeared harsh, the Bulls were fortunate five minutes later when Terry Newton burst through three tackles to put Deacon over, the final pass clearly forward.
Deacon added the goal and knocked over a penalty to put the Bulls 8-6 up, and they might have gone further ahead but for a try-saving tackle by Wellens on Vainikolo.
 Gilmour's try appeared to have put St Helens in command |
Instead Saints took command with two tries in four minutes before the half-hour. First Wellens took a Nick Fozzard pass to crash over, then Francis Meli had a try disallowed for an obstruction before Gilmour crossed after a tremendous break from emerging prop James Graham.
Gilmour should have had another when he dropped Gardner's knock-down with the line at his mercy, but Vainokolo finished off an overlap to bring the Bulls to within six points.
Saints stand-off Leon Pryce was left on the bench at half-time, and when he was brought back on 15 minutes into the second half he lost the ball in a tackle that led to a Bulls try.
Deacon burst onto Newton's pass to touch down, and Deacon's conversion levelled it at 18-18 after 56 minutes.
The scrum-half then surprisingly missed a good penalty chance, but made no mistake with his next effort to nudge the Bulls in front.
It turned out to be the final score of the night as Saints laboured in vain to regain the initiative.
Instead Bradford finished the stronger, only for Ian Henderson to be denied a last-minute try by the video referee.
Bradford coach Steve McNamara:
"It has been tough for the players in recent weeks but they have worked really hard and I'm really pleased for them. "They have not been quite as bad as some people have made out, and they were not quite as good as some might think tonight, so we have to keep a balance."
On Terry Newton: "It was his best game for the club. We had a plan and
Terry is a very clever footballer to carry it out, probably one of the cleverest
I've played with or coached."
Saints full-back Paul Wellens:
"We came here for the two points and we are bitterly disappointed with the performance. "Credit to Bradford, they fought hard and probably deserved to win in the end. But we gave up a lot of field position with the penalties we gave away.
"When you give a side like Bradford that much possession you are going to suffer."
Bradford: Withers, Vainikolo, Hape, B. Harris, St Hilaire, I. Harris, Deacon, Fielden, Newton, Lynch, Meyers, McKenna, Langley.
Replacements: Vagana, Gene, Ferres, Henderson.
St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Lyon, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, P. Anderson, Cunningham, Cayless, Gilmour, Sculthorpe, Hooper.
Replacements: Roby, Fozzard, Graham, Wilkin.
Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury)
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