A LATE burst enabled Bradford Dragons to beat London Lituanica 90-86 in their final match of the regular English National League season.

The victory left the Dragons seventh in the Division One table and they will now play defending champions Manchester Magic in the play-off quarter-finals.

Lituanica have had an up and down season, with their troubles culminating in them forfeiting a game against Manchester earlier in the campaign.

This resulted in Magic being awarded the match with a statutory 20-0 scoreline, while the London side were docked an additional two points.

The team, made up entirely of Lithuanians, travelled to Bradford with only six players – and they were nearly down to five within three seconds of the opening quarter.

Deividas Lygutas took a blow to the head in a challenge with Semi Eboigbe, forcing the visiting player to take a temporary seat on the bench.

The Dragons' own eastern European, Latvian Rihards Sulcs, opened the scoring with a two-point jump shot, only for Lituanica to quickly pull the scores back level.

A turnover by the visitors saw Rafi Saipe play a defence-splitting bounce pass through to Jermayne Laing. He was through on basket but the normally reliable guard lost control of the ball, seeing it bounce off his foot and out of play.

The Dragons were clearly missing the aerial presence of Ricky Fetske, who was again confined to a watching brief after suffering concussion two weeks previously.

The Londoners held a clear height advantage, which they used in building up a significant 11-point lead at 31-20 by the end of the opening period.

It did not get much better for the Dragons in the second quarter as the visitors continued to cut through their defence.

Lituanica's lead was surprisingly cut to eight points thanks to a late rally by the Dragons but, as the teams left the court for half-time, the Londoners were still firmly in control at 52-44.

Into the third period, the Dragons started to show a bit more resolve and the two teams matched each other basket for basket.

With just under three minutes of the quarter remaining, London's lead was down to six points but when the buzzer signalled the end of the period, the gap was once more back to eight at 71-63.

It was in the final quarter that the Dragons finally burst into life, gradually eating into the deficit and tying the game at 79-79.

But the London club were not about to give in and when Bradford coach Chris Mellor called a time-out with three minutes 41 seconds remaining, the visitors were once more ahead at 83-79.

A minute later it was Lituanica's turn to call for time with the game again tied at 86 points apiece – but they could not stop the Bradford comeback and a couple more baskets from Sulcs saw the hosts steal the win.

Sulcs recorded a game-high 30 points, while Saipe contributed 23 and Marcus Gooding added a further 20. For the visitors, Mantas Guzys bagged 24 points, assisted by Julius Visockas and Paulius Adomaitis with 21 each.

Mellor made no attempt to cover up the Dragons' frailties as he said: "We were flat right from the tip and were fortunate to be only down eight at the half. We gradually improved our effort defensively and got the stops needed to pull out the win."

The Dragons face second-placed finishers Manchester Magic in the play-offs at the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester this Saturday (6.30pm).

Bradford have had little success against the Mancunians in the last few seasons and it will be a big ask for them to progress to the semi-finals.

But with Fetske in contention for a return to the squad, they will hope to get the better of their red rose rivals this time around.