American Football: Dallas to face Bills in Bowl

THE Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys will contest this year's Super Bowl after winning yesterday's conference championship games. Dallas beat the San Francisco 49ers 30-20 in the NFC game at Candlestick Park, while the Bills prevailed 29-10 over Miami in the AFC match-up at Joe Robbie Stadium.

The Bills won with an impressive all-round display in which Thurman Thomas gave the outstanding performance. The Buffalo running back rushed for 96 yards and had another 70 on five receptions, one of which was for a touchdown. Steve Christie, the Buffalo kicker, kicked five field goals to tie the NFL play-off record, while Miami contributed to their own downfall by conceding five turnovers.

Buffalo had the better of a first quarter which contained three turnovers, but the sides were level at 3-3 at the end of it. They made their superiority count early in the second with Thomas catching Jim Kelly's 17-yard pass for a touchdown. Another Miami turnover, their third in fewer than 20 minutes playing time, led to another field goal from Buffalo's Steve Christie to stretch the lead to 13-3.

The feeling that it was Buffalo's day intensified early in the third quarter when Miami fumbled the kick-off return and Thomas's fumble on the ensuing drive was fumbled back on the same play by Miami's Marco Coleman. The drive culminated in Kenneth Davis's two-yard touchdown run.

Miami's offense continued to stutter with Dan Marino finding yards extremely hard to amass. Buffalo responded with another impressive, time-consuming drive which ended with another field goal to increase the lead to 20-3.

In the fourth quarter Marino finally generated some offense but a promising charge came to an end with an interception. On their next possession Miami finally scored a touchdown, Marino finding Mark Duper for a 15-yard touchdown connection. However, Buffalo scored a final field goal to seal their ticket to Pasadena in a fortnight.

NFL: AFC Championship game: Miami 10 Buffalo 29. NFC Championship game: Dallas 30 San Francisco 20.