Pryce snatches win to keep Bulls' hopes alive

Leeds 18 Bradford

A try inside the last two minutes by Leon Pryce snatched victory for Bradford after they had been outplayed for much of a dramatic game at Headingley last night.

A vastly improved, second-half performance saw the Bulls put Leeds under tremendous pressure and the Rhinos finally cracked when James Lowes and Nathan McAvoy combined for Pryce to score the try that keeps alive their hopes of finishing on top of Super League.

Leeds chose to go into a game with their local rivals without Ben Walker, who has had such an up-and-down season for them. If there is a question mark over his future, then Leeds' fans were also predicting that Daryl Cowell could be on his way out of the coaching job if they could not stop the Bulls last night.

His team did not do him any immediate favours. Francis Cummins allowed Paul Deacon's 40/20 kick to run into touch and, from the scrum possession, the Rhinos' defence was opened up with ease for Michael Withers to score within the first 90 seconds.

Deacon added the conversion, but Bradford failed miserably to go on with the job in the first half. Within five minutes, Leeds had struck back, Kevin Sinfield throwing the pass for Chev Walker to hold off the defence and touch down.

With Bradford making repeated mistakes, Leeds hit the front inside the first quarter, Andy Hay slipping the ball for Willie Poching to find his way over the line. Sinfield failed to add either conversion but did add a penalty when Wayne McDonald was adjudged to have had the ball stolen from him.

But Bradford were fallible both with the ball and without it and were opened up again four minutes from half time with Hay again doing the damage to release Keith Senior. This time Sinfield tagged on the goal and Leeds, to the surprise of many of their supporters were 10 points up.

It took the scruffiest of tries to bring Bradford back into the game in the second half, Walker losing the ball over his own line and Daniel Gartner dropping on it for a converted try. There was nothing wrong with the try that levelled the scores, however. The Bradford captain, Robbie Paul, came off the bench and, six minutes later, he took the Leeds defence apart with a solo run.

Bradford lost the initiative by conceding two penalties, from the second of which Sinfield restored Leeds' lead. The Bulls seemed to have lost their best chance, but there was still time for Pryce to claim the spoils.

Leeds: Cummins, Calderwood, C Walker, Senior, Pratt, Sinfield, Sheridan, Ward, Diskin, Barrie McDermott, Hay, Daley, Poching. Substitutes: Burrow, McGuire, Jones-Buchanan, McDonald.

Bradford: Withers, McAvoy, Gilmour, Costin, Vainikolo, Pryce, Deacon, Vagana, Lowes, Fielden, Gartner, Peacock, Forshaw. Substitutes: Paul, Anderson, Radford, Brian McDermott. Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).