Bradford Bulls 17

Saints 16

BATTLING Saints' 11-match winning run came to an end at fortress Odsal on Friday, but if ever a side earned glory in defeat inspirational skipper Chris Joynt's men did!

Picture the scene. League leaders Saints set to face third-placed Bulls,' who were defending a 28-match 100 percent record in an intimidating stadium and before an highly partisan home crowd.

Sad though it was, the fact that Saints succumbed by the narrowest of margins is not depressing, with only a drop-goal by Paul Deacon separating the teams following a titanic struggle in monsoon conditions which made the outcome a lottery.

An arm wrestle without doubt and a game whose pattern was dictated by the elements, but nonetheless a tale of contrasting halves of intensity and drama, with the consensus being that a draw would have been a fair result.

In particular when it is remembered that a Saints' squad trailing 16-4 came back of the ropes to set up a cliff-hanging finish, which was pure theatre in an incident-packed match where Rugby League was the other winner.

No fewer than seven video rulings (and a consequent 12 minutes 'overtime') spoke volumes for the knife-edge nature of proceedings, as did possession-starved Saints having to drop-out a similar number of times in face of Bradford's relentless kick-and-chase policy.

Reflecting on his first defeat at Saints' coach Ian Millward said: 'I suppose it had to come sooner or later, but I am quite happy because our guys put in a tremendous effort and there was a lot of positives in our game.'

None more so than from the magnificent Joynt who notched his 100th career try and_for many_ had his best game in a Saints' shirt, which is saying a lot, while Kevin Iro, Sean Long, Paul Sculthorpe, Paul Wellens and John Stankevitch were also worth special mention on a night when all were heroes

Bulls were baying for Saints' blood from the kick-off, with Leon Pryce and James Lowes denied 'tries' in the first 10 minutes against a Saints' side at variance with the team sheet in that Tony Stewart was centre, Iro at stand-off and Scully at loose-forward.

Something had to give in face of endless Bradford pressure, and it did so when Lowes sent Stuart Fielden over for Henry Paul to convert, with attrition then being the name of the game as Saints' stood shoulder-to-shoulder in countering Bradford's grinding power-play. Half-an-hour ticked by when spirited Saints had their huge support roaring as Joynt dummied his way over after Iro was held short, but Long's conversion rebounded off the woodwork _ little did we know how crucial that was to prove!

Tragedy struck for Saints with half-time looming when Lowes chipped over the Saints' line for the umpteenth time, but on this occasion hard-working Sonny Nickle failed to clear the danger to present David Boyle with a gift try.

Paul again tacked on the extra points and when, on the restart, the strong-running Fielden blasted through Iro's tackle to score, there was more than a hint that Saints were set for yet another hiding at unwelcoming Odsal. However it was a case of 'O ye of little faith' for the doubters as, despite a three-man tackle, Paul Newlove miraculously released the ball to Joynt who crossed in the corner for Long to add a towering touchline goal.

Chris Smith, of Saints, and Bradford's Deacon and man-of-the-match Jamie Peacock all had 'touchdowns' disallowed before Deacon inched Bull's lead to 17-10 with what was to prove the vital one-pointer on threequarter time.

Saints were far from done however and, digging deep into reserves of stamina and character _ set up a spell-binding finale when Long wriggled over and added the conversion with just six minutes remaining.

Masters of suspense Bradford and Saints then conspired to have an already-enthralled crowd on tenterhooks as first Bulls' Brad Mackay had a score refused due to a double movement, while Long was short with an ambitous drop goal attempt _ phew!!!.