Bradford Bulls 19

Leeds Rhinos 18

"Look-out God is Withers" proclaimed a banner on the Odsal terraces.

But the Rhinos didn't heed the warning as the Bulls' Aussie full-back Michael picked the ideal moment to land the first drop goal of his career and provide the perfect finish on a truly memorable, record-breaking night at Odsal.

The young star followed up a match-winning four-try show at Hull five days earlier with the vital point in a pulsating finish.

No one would really have argued with an 18-18 draw after a storming comeback by the Bulls who were largely outplayed for the first hour.

But in a frantic finale the Minor Premiership winners kept their composure for Withers to dent the Rhinos chances of squeezing into second spot on the ladder with a cool angled shot three minutes from time.

A jubilant Withers revealed: "I told Steve McNamara 'I'm on your inside if you need me' and he passed me the ball. I just looked up and had a crack.

"I muck about in training but I'm shocking. I can't kick at all. If I had another 10 shots at goal, I don't think I'd kick one.

"It was fantastic to play out there in that atmosphere and the ending was perfect. We gave away too many penalties early on and missed a lot of one-on-one tackles and Leeds made us pay. But we really had to bend our backs to get into it again and I thought we dominated the second half."

The outcome was testimony to the side's renowned fighting spirit and for the opening hour that was the only thing that kept them in the game.

Two early Iestyn Harris penalties and an Anthony Farrell 40-metre try through some uncharacteristic weak tackling gave the Rhinos the perfect platform.

And they looked far more fluent with the ball as the Bulls struggled to breakdown some tackling which bordered on the brutal at times.

McNamara did get them on the board before the break with a penalty but when Harris popped over his fourth straight goal after the re-start the Bulls 100 per cent home record was in severe danger.

And with the ball just not bouncing for them and players dropping like flies with injuries, including the inspirational Jimmy Lowes, there didn't seem any way back.

But the hooker's departure worked to their advantage eventually with his replacement Paul Deacon providing the midfield spark to at last put the Leeds defence on the back foot.

There was still more agony though as Leon Pryce was denied an effort by the intervention of the video referee but minutes later he won the chase to Robbie Paul's neat grubber to the corner and although McNamara couldn't goal from touch it was 'game on'.

The classy loose forward took them straight back into Rhinos territory with a rifled 40/20 kick and from the resulting scrum performed his party piece diagonal kick - which was too much for the vertically challenged Leroy Rivett - and Nathan McAvoy swooped gleefully to touchdown and help level the scores.

But Bernard Dwyer's knock-on near his own line then handed the Rhinos a lifeline and he must have been anticipating a sleepless night as teenager Chev Walker went in from Andy Hay's pass.

As Leeds fans started their celebration party the darting Deacon struck again and after a quiet night Tevita Vaikona timed his inside run to perfection and there was no stopping the powerful Tongan from 35 metres.

The multi-skilled Withers then underlined his uncanny knack of popping up at the right time to edge the Bulls ahead for the first time and in a gripping finale the Rhinos went for broke before finally having to succumb to the leaders incredible battling qualities.

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