Saints 25 Bradford Bulls 16 RESOLUTE Saints displayed many of the qualities needed for a first Grand Final appearance as they clinched second spot in this absorbing clash on Friday night

It's early days yet, but commitment, resilience and character were there in abundance as Saints bounced back from a10-2 deficit, kept their line intact for an hour, and had three tries disallowed.

All this against a table-topping Bull's side determined not to be tethered after a 58-14 humiliation at Knowsley Road in April, with Saints' second half dominance reflected in a 25-10 lead after 70 minutes.

On an individual note,13-point Tommy Martyn took both man-of-the-match awards in what was an uplifting team performance, but the Leigh-based half-back was pushed all the way by Paul Sculthorpe, Sonny Nickle, Keiron Cunningham and Freddie Tuilagi.

The first appearance of Kiwi winger Sean Hoppe - who flew in from Auckland on Thursday - aroused considerable interest, particularly in that he substituted in the second row, had a try refused, and became the seventh overseas player on Saints' register.

However, of far less joy to club management was the attendance of 8,490, officially described as 'disappointing,' which was an justified comment when it is remembered that Super League's top sides were involved, along with the massive Bradford following.

Bulls roared into a second-minute lead when, after Paul Atcheson had lost possession, James Lowes chipped through for Steve McNamara to touch down and add the conversion, but Martyn reduced the deficit with a penalty when David Boyle held down Apollo Perelini. The elusive Robbie Paul then spotted a gap between Sculthorpe and Kevin Iro to cross in the left-hand corner. However, Saints' response was again immediate as Perelini blasted through for Sculthorpe to score with Martyn's goal meaning Saints' trailed just 8-10.

And the Knowsley Road team moved into a lead they did not surrender when Atcheson engineered another six-pointer for Iro with 21 minutes gone, and Saints' advantage became 16-10 Martyn kicked his third goal when McNamara fouled Sculthorpe.

Robbie Paul departed after being injured in a shuddering collision with Vila Matautia, while a rousing break by Tuilagi and carried on by Iro and Chris Smith ended with Lowes being penalised, but Martyn could not find the target on this occasion.

With only six points separating the sides the issue remained on an knife-edge on the restart, and Saints endured a heart-stopping moment when Lowes charged down Martyn's kick before being beaten in a 50-yard race to the touchdown by Cunningham and Atcheson.

Saints' breathed a little easier when Martyn's drop-goal earned the approval of video referee Tony Brown who then, within a minute, gave the ''thumbs-down' to try-scoring efforts by Hoppe and Paul Newlove.

Martyn, whose distributive and kicking skills were a joy throughout, then turned try-scorer when, on receiving from Sculthorpe, Tommy dummied his way through and he held off ex-Saint Bernard Dwyer in a 30-yard race to the line.

Substitute Paul Wellens, Chris Joynt and Des Clark then carved out Anthony Sullivan's 24th try of the season, while the disallowing of another try by Martyn was hardly the best of endings to an heart-warming display by Saints.

Stuart Fielden scored a late try for Bulls.

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