Radlinski responds to hero's welcome

Wigan 16 Bradford 1

Two tries in three minutes turned the game Wigan's way after Bradford had looked set to secure first place going into the play-offs later this month.

After dominating for 50 minutes, the Bulls were hit by two pieces of high class half-back play to create tries for Brett Dallas and Kris Radlinski. Wigan are now only inferior on points difference and will chase them all the way for a top spot.

Wigan needed to win by 45 points to take-over the top of the table, an unlikely prospect even with Radlinski, the leading try scorer in the competition this season, in your side and getting a particularly warm welcome in his first match since his decision to stay in rugby league.

It was Radlinski's defensive qualities that were needed in the early stages as Bradford mounted sustained attacks. The first points would have gone to Wigan, though, but for a rare penalty miss by Andy Farrell. Henry Paul also missed one for the Bulls after Andy Johnson fumbled Paul Deacon's bomb and Wigan were caught offside.

The stalemate was finally broken after 18 minutes when Jamie Lowes drove his way over the line from close range. Handling errors gave Bradford plenty of territory and Wigan had to work hard to keep them from crossing their line again and restrict them to a Deacon dropped goal.

Dallas cut in at the corner for Wigan, but the try was disallowed for a forward pass. A raid initiated by Radlinski and Steve Renouf also came to nothing when Radlinski lost the ball and Wigan had to wait until three minutes before half time to cut the lead to five takes with a final penalty, soon stretched to six by another dropped goal, this time from Lowes.

With Robbie Paul coming off the bench for the second half, Wigan looked even more ripe for the kill, but broke out of defence for a remarkable try created by Adrian Lam's clever kick and completed when Dallas beat Leon Pryce to the ball and slid over the line in the same movement, Farrell's conversion bringing the scores level. Within three minutes, Matthew Johns wriggled his way through in midfield and Radlinski raced in. Farrell followed up his second conversion with a drop goal.

Henry Paul accepted a penalty to reduce the lead, but Wigan had the final word with a drop goal from Farrell.

Wigan: Radlinski; Dallas, Renouf, Connolly, Johnson; Johns, Lam; Connor, Newton, Howard, Cassidy, Furner, Farrell. Substitutes used: Cowie, Carney, Hodgson, Betts.

Bradford: Withers; Vaikona, Gilmour, Naylor, Pryce; H Paul, Deacon; McDermott, Lowes, Vagana, Peacock, Gartner, Forshaw. Substitutes used: Anderson, Fielden, R Paul, Rigon.

Referee: S Cummings (Widnes).