Deacon seizes moment to secure Bradford's escape

Huddersfield Giants 6 Bradford Bulls

Bradford did not get the 21-point victory they needed to take them to the top of the Super League, but there would have been a collected sigh of relief in the Bulls dressing room that they got the win at all.

The scoreline may look comprehensive enough but only a 12-point flurry between the 71st and 75th minutes, when Huddersfield were down to 12 men, sealed a victory that was never a forgone conclusion.

The Giants, smarting from accusations that their 100 per cent start to the season had come at the cost of some of the weakest sides of the competition, matched and often bettered their neighbours. Playing in rain and hail that made handling a lottery, some aggressive tackling and superb defence were let down only by their inability to find the finishing touches.

With Bradford on the rack for long periods in the first half, Huddersfield opted twice to run penalties close to the Bulls line and both times threw the chances away. The visitors even survived an eight-minute spell either side of half-time when they were down to 11 men, with Tevita Vaikona and Stuart Fielden sin-binned for professional fouls.

Huddersfield also lost Sean Penkywicz to the sin-bin but it was the 68th-minute sin-binning of Hefin O'Hare that was to prove the Giants downfall. A 62nd-minute try from Darren Turner meant they trailed by only two points, but Bradford drew on their experience to pull away. Paul Deacon touched down after a fine break from his half-back partner, Leon Pryce, and followed up with a kick that Brandon Costin failed to deal with, setting up a second try of the match for Paul Johnson.

The Huddersfield coach, Jon Sharp, said: "The scoreline flattered Bradford without a shadow of a doubt. This game was a yardstick for us and I think my team are the winners today. Bradford are a tremendous side but we caused them problems. With more clinical finishing who knows what could have happened.'' Bradford's coach, Brian Noble, admitted: "Our defence was magnificent but it had to be, Huddersfield are a good team.''

Huddersfield: Reilly; O'Hare, Nero, Bailey, St Hilaire; Gene, March; Slicker, Turner, Fleary, Jones, Roarty, Costin. Substitutes used: Donlan, Penkywicz, Smith, Crabtree.

Bradford: Reardon; Vaikona, Bridge, Johnson, Vainikolo; L Pryce, Deacon; Vagana, Smith, Fielden, Peacock, Parker, Radford. Substitutes used: Paul, K Pryce, Langley, Anderson.

Referee: R Smith (Castleford).